On June 10, 2013, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) sent out a release pertaining to housing starts in Canada as of May 2013. Overall, the numbers were higher than expected.

Where is Canada seeing the most housing starts?

Throughout all of Canada, Ontario saw the most gains in housing starts when comparing May to April. Analysts were predicting that Canada would reach about 175,000 housing starts by the end of May, but the numbers actually exceeded expectations, coming in about 200,000. Granted, this number is still down from last year, but Canada is in way better shape than some anticipated.

The high-rise condo market is being credited with the high number of housing starts, with a 22 per cent increase from April to May. Naturally, most of these high-rise condos are located in urban centres, like downtown Toronto and Mississauga.

Low-rise played a smaller role, only increasing by 3 per cent compared to April, and according to Scotiabank Economics, rural areas saw an increase of housing starts by 7.5 per cent.

According to Statistics Canada, the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area accounted for 33,777 starts in April and 34,386 in May.

Condo boom continuing

The condo market, despite a slew of negative headlines, has continued to carry Canada’s housing market through 2013. Builders and developers are intelligent companies – they do their research before launching a new development. They know when it’s a good time and when it’s a bad time. If the number of housing starts is higher than expected, then that means the demand is there. Sure, things aren’t the way they were back in 2011, but the housing market has to take a break eventually. It’s unrealistic to expect the market to flourish at a booming rate forever.

With about 100,000 people moving to the GTA every year, we don’t think that the demand for new housing will be dropping anytime soon. Even people who live on the outskirts of the GTA are looking to move closer to downtown to avoid commuting, and we’re seeing mixed-use developments and proposals popping up constantly to feed that demand.

What do you think?

Do you think the demand for condos in major urban centres will stay strong in the coming years? What about low-rise?

To check out CMHC’s release for yourself, click here!

Please comment below.