Housing Starts are Hot this Summer
By Lucas on Aug 12, 2014
In July, Canada’s housing starts were trending at 189,784 units, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This is a slight increase compared to June’s 185,952 units, but CMHC believes that the country’s housing market is still due for a soft landing.
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 construction has increased modestly in recent months due to in large part to multiple starts, which have strong variability from month-to-month,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist.
The standalone monthly SAAR rose to 200,098 units. Urban starts were steady at 182,932 units, with multiple urban starts increasing to 115,870 and single-detached urban starts also rising to 67,062 units.
Atlantic Canada and Ontario saw the biggest jump for urban starts, while the Prairies, British Columbia, and Quebec saw decreases. CMHC estimates the SAAR of rural starts was 17,166 units.
There’s no doubt that this was a hot summer all around for Canada’s housing market. Like CMHC, Newinhomes.com is confident that the country’s homebuilders, especially those in Ontario, will strategically pace themselves through fall and the rest of the year to make for that soft landing that nearly every authority in the industry is predicting.
