November 2014 Housing Starts in Toronto

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2014) - Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended lower at 25,579 units in November compared to 27,877 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 lingering effects of fewer pre-construction condominium apartment sales between mid-2012 and mid-2013 continue to weigh on the number of apartment starts occurring in the second half of 2014. The pick-up in condominium apartment sales since the end of 2013 will begin to translate to more starts next year," said Dana Senagama, CMHC's Toronto Senior Market Analyst.

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 stand alone monthly SAAR was 24,083 units in November, down from 25,565 units in October.

The City of Toronto recorded the highest number of starts in November, and captured almost all of the apartment starts in the GTA this month. The next highest municipalities were Brampton and Richmond Hill, which recorded robust low-rise starts.

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.

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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.

This release is also available at www.cmhc.ca

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/982930a.pdf