March 2016 Housing Starts in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 4,953 units in March compared to 5,245 units in February 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.

"Housing starts trended slightly lower in March across all dwelling types with the exception of rows," said Anne-Marie Shaker, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Ottawa. "Starts have trended lower as the number of completed and unsold units has trended higher for all dwelling types with the most pronounced increase in the condominium segment."

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 multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.

In Ottawa, the monthly SAAR measure was 3,716 in March up from 3,166 in February, due to a rise in single-detached, row and apartment home construction. Notably this month, the bulk of the apartment construction took place outside the city core in the west end of Ottawa, as core areas have the highest share of under construction inventory.

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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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049950a.pdf