The six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts saw Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) housing starts trend from 25,041 units in February to 30,194 units in March, reports the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

“Housing starts rebounded to an eight-month high in March due to developers starting new high-rise projects, which are part of an increase in pre-construction condominium apartment sales since mid-2013,” said Dana Senagama, principal of market analysis for the GTA, CMHC. “Strong high-rise completions so far this year have also enabled builders to channel more resources to new projects.”

A significant rise in apartment starts drove the standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates from 22,551 units in February to 45,955 units in March.

The CMHC looks at both the trend measure and monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates because in markets driven by the multiples segment, looking at the seasonally adjusted annual rates on their own can be misleading.

In the first quarter of 2015, housing completions in the Toronto CMA totaled 21,720 units, including a record 17,166 condominium apartment units, already topping annual totals for the past three years. The high volume of completions has freed up machinery and labour resources, facilitating March’s uptick in housing starts.

As the record number of high-rise starts recorded in 2012 reach completion, unsold inventory only edged up by 113 units — easily absorbable in a market the size of Toronto’s, according to CMHC — in the first quarter of 2015.

The City of Toronto led housing starts in March, followed by the City of Vaughan, with both seeing a significant number of condominium apartment starts. The City of Brampton recorded the third-highest number of housing starts and the largest number of low-rise units starting construction.