THUNDER BAY – “With 88 apartment condominium unit starts in October, multi-family starts took a jump pulling up total starts in the year-to-date. Condominium-tenured housing has been discussed widely in the marketplace over the last three years and proponents are currently working on three projects, each with their own advantages,” noted Warren Philp, CMHC’s Market Analyst for Thunder Bay.
Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 440 units in October, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 1236 units in October, up from 246 in September.
Housing starts in Ontario were trending at 73,805 units in October, 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 65,723 units in October, down from 70,240 units in September.
“Ontario home construction, led by the row and 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.
To combine with the 88 condo units, Thunder Bay saw twenty-one single detached units started in October. This number was one unit better than the ten-year-average for Octobers. Year-to-date total starts have reached 304 units, 44 units behind last year, with 121 of those units being semi-detached, row and or apartment units.
