November 2015 Housing Starts in Ontario

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2015) - Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending at 74,287 units in November, up slightly from 73,759 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.

"The Ontario residential construction trend continued to grow on the strength of semi-detached and apartment construction. The trend in single detached construction has remained relatively stable in recent months. Ontario starts have been running above levels supported by household formation rates since June suggesting recent activity is likely not sustainable. Nevertheless, rising home prices for single family homes, low rental vacancy rates and less land available for low density housing development should continue to support apartment starts in the immediate term," said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC's Ontario Regional Economist.

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 SAAR of total urban housing starts remained elevated at 84,537 units in November, up from 72,554 units in October. Ontario urban housing starts for the period ending November are running 24 per cent above levels for the same period one year ago largely due to strength in the row and apartment sector.

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 information 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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To view the graph and table associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1035928E.pdf