THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay has bucked the national trend for housing starts in May. According to preliminary data released today by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), there were 22 single-detached Thunder Bay starts in May, even with the 22 started in May 2011. “The 22 single-detached starts are slightly higher than the ten year average for the month of May. Year-to-date single home starts amount to 41 units, four units more than the first five months of 2011. A slow start to semi-detached, row and apartment construction leaves those totals at half the previous year’s levels. More higher-density housing starts are expected as the year progresses given the pent-up demand that exists for condominiums,” said Warren Philp, CMHC’s Northern Ontario Market Analyst.
The city is bucking the national trend. As across Canada housing starts for May were slightly down from April
The trend is a moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)1 of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 211,400 units in May, down from 243,800 in April.
“As anticipated, the pace of housing starts observed in April was not sustained in May. In fact, the pace in May was more in line with the average over the last six months,” said Mathieu Laberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “Although some ups and downs are likely to continue in the months ahead, the pace of housing starts should trend lower as the year progresses,” added Laberge.