TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 9, 2016) - Housing starts in the Oshawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended lower at 2,436 in April 2016 compared to 2,852 in March 2016 according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR)^[1] of housing starts.

"While new low-rise home starts in Oshawa remains strong thanks to strong demand originating from price weary buyers in Toronto, typical fluctuations in high rise starts dragged down total construction activity in April," said Andrew Scott, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the GTA.

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 standalone monthly SAAR dropped to 2,432 units in April 2016 from 3,118 in March 2016. While all ground oriented home types recorded higher SAAR's in April, apartment starts were the source of the monthly decline.

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.

(Ce document existe également en français)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1053851e.pdf