Ontario Housing Starts Rise in October

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending at 74,281 units in October, up from 71,394 units in September, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

"The Ontario residential construction trend moved higher owing to strength in row and apartment activity. Single detached home starts remained elevated but in a stable range since early this year. Increasing price pressures in the single family home market, new mortgage rules and low density development constraints should continue to support the construction of more affordable housing options," 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 was 81,360 units in October, up from 67,798 units in September. For the period ending October 2016, Ontario urban home starts are running seven per cent higher versus the same period one year ago.

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.

For more information, visit our website at www.cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Additional data is available upon request.

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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1075549e.pdf