December 2014 Housing Starts in London


TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in the London Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 2,192 units in December compared to 2,508 in November, 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 total starts trend moved down due to fewer apartment starts over the final six months of 2014. The slowdown was not an indication of weaker housing demand, as more Londoners were employed, average wages grew and mortgage rates remained stable in the second half of 2014. Few apartment projects with greater than 50 units start each year in London. The two largest projects just happened to occur in the first half of 2014," said Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC.

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 starts was 1,025 units in December, down from 2,688 in November due to fewer starts of all dwelling types.

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.

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/986886a.pdf

Contact Information:

Market Analysis Contact:
Anthony Passarelli
416-250-3234
apassare@cmhc.ca

Media Contact:
Beth Bailey
416-218-3355
bbailey@cmhc.ca