Toronto Housing Starts Rise in August

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 11, 2012) - Housing starts for the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area were trending at 54,600 units in August according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)(1) of total starts data. The standalone monthly SAAR was 64,500 units, up from 51,700 units in July.

"Starts in Toronto will moderate in the months ahead due to a reduced backlog of construction-ready condominium projects and increased labour constraints caused by the record number of units under construction. However, the recent strength in construction will help increase rental supply, as rental apartment starts are running at a 20-year high and a large share of condos underway are expected to be used as rentals," said Shaun Hildebrand, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the GTA.

For some markets, CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and to obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analyzing 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.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of high quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

For more information, visit www.cmhc.ca or call 1-800-668-2642. CMHC Market Analysis standard reports are also available free for download at CMHC Housing Market Information.

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(1) Seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) are monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels.

To view the figures associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/TORenTable.pdf.