housing starts

Housing starts trended upward in June: CMHC

Monday, July 13, 2015

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports that in June, the trend measure of Canadian housing starts rose to 183,959 units, up from May’s 179,908 units. These figures represent six-month moving averages of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

“The trend in housing starts increased this month as multiple starts trended upward, offsetting a downward trend in single-detached home starts,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist, CMHC, in a press release. “The rise in the trend of multiple starts reflects a 53-per-cent increase in seasonally adjusted multiple starts from February to June 2015. Seasonally adjusted multiple starts are at their highest level since September 2012, but are expected to moderate over the coming months.”

CMHC uses the trend measure in conjunction with the monthly SAAR of housing starts, which is fueled by the multi-segment unit and can therefore significantly vary from month to month. This controls for sizable swings in monthly estimates and depicts a more accurate picture of the housing market in Canada.

The monthly SAAR was 202,818 units in June, an increase from May’s 196,981 units. In urban regions, the SAAR increased by 3.2 per cent to 188,720 units in June, while multi-unit urban starts increased by 3.7 per cent to 130,933 units. Single-detached urban starts increased by two per cent to 57,787 units.

Across Canada, the SAAR of urban starts increased in British Columbia, Quebec, the Prairie provinces and Atlantic Canada, while they decreased in Ontario.

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