Condo Construction Rises with the Summer Heat
By Lucas on Jul 13, 2015
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its monthly national housing starts data for June 2015, announcing a surge in condo construction.
In June 2015, housing starts in Canada were trending at 183,959 units, a slight increase compared to May’s trending figure of 179,908. The trending figure is a six-month moving average of monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR). The figures are based on numbers that have been modified to remove seasonal variation. The figures are then multiplied by 12 to represent an annual average.
“The trend in housing starts increased this month as multiple starts trended upward, offsetting a downward trend in single-detached home starts,” says Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist. “The rise in the trend of multiple starts reflects a 53% 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.”
The Fuse Condos site at Dupont and Lansdowne in Toronto
The standalone SAAR was 202,818 units, compared to 196,981 last May. The SAAR of urban starts saw a 3.2% jump to 188,720 units, of which, 130,933 were multiple starts. Single detached starts only went up 2% to 57,787 units. CMHC estimates that rural starts were around 14,098 units in June.
There was an increase in urban starts in all parts of Canada - British Columbia, Quebec, the Prairies, and Atlantic Canada - except in Ontario. The SAAR of urban starts in Ontario was 81,542 units in May, and there were just 56,511 in June. What does this mean for Ontario? Even though Ontario was the only area in Canada not to experience an increase in housing starts this month, it still had the most!
Construction in Ontario may be down, but there are plenty of new homes for sale! Click here to search by home type and builder.
