Toronto Housing Starts Increase in October 2016

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended higher at 39,664 units in October 2016 compared to 37,948 in September 2016 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.

"Toronto's housing starts trend rebounded in October after two months of decline," said Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. "Limited resale listings of single-detached homes continue to cause demand to spill over into the new home market, prompting a pick-up in construction."

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 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 standalone monthly SAAR was 47,972 units in October, up from 30,228 units in September. The increase was mainly a result of more apartment starts.

The City of Toronto recorded the highest number of starts within the Toronto CMA primarily due to a large number of apartment starts. This was followed by the City of Brampton, which had higher single-detached starts. Next was the Town of East Gwillimbury that saw construction begin on a number of low-rise homes.

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.

This release is also available at www.cmhc.ca.

Additional data is available upon request.

(Ce document existe également en français)

To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1075581e_TABLES.pdf