Ontario was the only province to see an increase in housing starts last month
By Lucas on Sep 09, 2015
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its national housing starts report for August 2015, announcing a large increase in construction activity in Ontario. Housing starts in Canada trended at 196,565 units in August 2015, compared to 185,642 units in July. The trend is a six month moving average of seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR).
“Housing starts have been trending up, supported by strong condominium activity in Toronto. This is in line with CMHC’s most recent forecasts that would see demand shift from new higher-priced single-detached homes towards lower-priced alternatives,” says Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist. “While national starts have increased, housing construction has started to slow in Alberta and Saskatchewan as a result of weakening economic conditions related to the decline of oil prices.”
The standalone SAAR was 216,924 units, compared to 193,253 in July. The SAAR of urban starts went up 13.6% to 201,312 units, with multi-unit starts jumping 19.5% to 142,927, and single-detached starts increasing 1.4% to 58,385. Rural starts are estimated to have hit around 15,612 units. The only area of Canada to see an increase in urban housing starts was Ontario. British columbia, the Prairies, Atlantic Canada, and Quebec all saw a drop.
Boaz Feiner, Geranium Homes, in front of Phase 1 of Friday Harbour in Innisfil
In Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), the monthly housing starts trend was 43,846 units, compared to 36,839 in July. “Significant increases in apartment starts lifted the trend number to its highest level since early 2013,” says Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. “High sales of pre-construction condominium apartment units throughout 2014 continue to convert to starts this year.”
The standalone SAAR in Toronto CMA was 65,097, which is a huge jump compared to July’s 23,716 units. This is the second time in 2015 that the suburban areas in Toronto CMA had a combined total of more apartment starts than the City of Toronto, but Toronto still had the most starts (mostly apartments). Richmond Hill, Mississauga, and Vaughan followed with the most apartment starts (in that order).
We are interested to see how the busy fall season affects housing starts for the remaining months of the year. There are many new community releases and openings coming up, but odds are, the sales from these releases won’t translate into construction starts until next spring.
