November 2016 Housing Starts in London

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2016) - The housing starts trend measure for London Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was 3,577 units in November, down from 4,143 units 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) of housing starts.

"While the trend measure for total starts was down, it remained much higher than usual. Starts of homes in multi-unit structures (primarily row homes and apartments) have been heavily concentrated in the past six months, mostly explaining the unusually high level of starts. Greater housing demand due to higher full-time employment and a greater number of people moving to London has also driven up starts of single-detached homes," 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 monthly SAAR of total starts was 2,621 units in November, down from 4,765 units in October, primarily due to lower apartment starts. The monthly SAAR of apartment starts is quite volatile in London, as most apartment starts are concentrated in a few months every year.

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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1079356E.pdf