Ontario was the only area of Canada to see an increase in housing starts
By Lucas on Nov 08, 2016
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its housing starts report for October 2016, announcing that the trend “held steady” across Canada.
The national trend measure for housing starts in October was 199,920 units, compared to 199,262 the previous month. The trend is a six month moving average of seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR).
“In October, housing starts remained stable, as the trend remained essentially unchanged from September,” says Bob Dugan, CMHC Chief Economist. “While apartment starts are on a downward trend in British Columbia after reaching an all-time high at the beginning of the year, increased construction of single, semi-detached and row units in the rest of the country have helped offset the decline.”
The standalone monthly SAAR was 192,928 units, compared to September’s 219,363. The SAAR of urban starts dropped 12.1% to 176,131 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 15.3% to 115,402 units, while single detached starts dropped 5.4% to 60,729.
CMHC says starts stayed steady across the country, but Ontario was the only area to see an increase in urban starts. British Columbia, the Prairies, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada all saw decreases. Rural starts are estimated at 16,797 units.
Housing starts in Toronto CMA
Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended higher in October at 39,664 units, a slight increase compared to the 37,948 in September.
“Toronto’s housing starts trend rebounded in October after two months of decline,” says Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. “Limited resale listings of single-detached homes continue to cause demand to spill over into the new home market, prompting a pick-up in home construction.”
The standalone monthly SAAR was 47,972 units, compared to 30,228 the previous month. The large increase was due mostly to new apartment starts.
The City of Toronto saw the most starts in the Toronto CMA, most of which were of apartments. Brampton came in second with mostly single detached homes, while East Gwillimbury saw a significant amount of new low-rise homes.
For months, the new home market and resale market have been bouncing buyers back and forth. People frustrated with the limited resale listings are turning to preconstruction projects. People fed up with the lack of new inventory are turning to resale. Clearly, demand is strong on both fronts, but satisfying demand is an issue that will require more than one solution.
