THUNDER BAY – Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 314 units in September, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)(1) of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 249 units in September, down from 355 in August.
“After nine months in 2012, single-detached starts have dominated new construction activity while multi-family starts have trailed last year’s stronger levels. Low mortgage rates, a tight resale market, employment strength and net in-migration have contributed to improved singles starts levels in 2012,” noted Warren Philp, CMHC’s Market Analyst for Thunder Bay.
Housing starts in Ontario were trending at 80,600 units in September, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)(1) of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 70,486 units in September, down from 86,189 units in August.
“As was widely expected, Ontario home construction, led by the apartment sector, moved lower closer to levels consistent with demographic demand. While home construction will remain elevated over the next several months, starts should moderate further. Modest job growth versus the recent past, better supplied resale markets combined with a high level of units under construction are headwinds for the residential construction industry,” said Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC’s Ontario Regional Economist.
CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets, which can be quite variable from one month to the next. The multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.
Twenty-eight single detached units started in September while there were no multiple starts. Year-to-date total starts have reached 195 actual units with only 33 of those units being semi-detached, row and or apartment units.
