November 2014 Housing Starts in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2014) - Housing starts in the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending lower at 6,226 units in November compared to 6,729 units in October according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)(1) of housing starts.

"Ottawa's new housing construction trend edged lower in November due to a decline of single-detached home starts. However, actual starts for this month posted growth as they were 12 per cent above the 5-year average for all Novembers since 2009. This slight increase was led by new apartment construction. Notably, seventy percent of these new apartment units were purpose-built rentals. Factors such as robust immigration numbers and healthy empty nesters' demand for rentals are prompting rental construction," said Sandra Perez Torres, Senior Market Analyst for Eastern and Northern Ontario.

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets, which can be quite variable from one month to the next. The multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.

In Ottawa, the more volatile monthly SAAR measure was 7,684 units in November up from 6,432 units in October.

This month most of the starts in Kanata were for purpose-built rental units, resulting in this region capturing the highest number of housing starts. Gloucester held the second highest share of starts, with almost 40 per cent of all rows concentrated in this region. West Carleton, Clarence Rockland and Russell captured 14 per cent of all single-detached houses. Although posting a declining trend, single-detached home construction remains an attractive option in the outer suburbs, as they remain relatively affordable when compared to their counterparts closer to the Ottawa core.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

(1) All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/982925a.pdf