Housing Starts Down in Thunder Bay
THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay is a hot real estate market. Homes going on the market often sell for over market price. Bidding wars are common. There is a shortage of new homes. The Canada Mortgage and Corporation reports, “Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 317 units in July up from 315 units in June. The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
“Following healthy single-detached construction activity in July, Thunder Bay home-building trend posted positive growth. Similarly, row and apartment starts are performing well this year boosting year-to-date activity in 2013. CMHC’s forecast similar starts levels this year compared to 2012,” commented Warren Philp, CMHC’s Market Analyst for Thunder Bay.
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 standalone monthly SAAR was 251 units in July, down from 308 units in June.
Across Ontario Housing Starts Slightly Up
Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending up at 58,376 units in July, compared to 55,653 in June, according to the CMHC. The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
“A pullback in Ontario’s housing construction seems to have stopped for now. Ontario’s housing starts trend, which is down from last year, has been essentially flat for four months. The latest month’s home starts trend is up a little, with multiple family construction,mostly apartment condominiums, leading the way. Home prices are high, so it is not surprising that the more affordable new home types, such as condominium apartments, have been very popular,” said Alex Medow, CMHC Ontario Senior Market Analyst.
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