THUNDER BAY – Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 116 units in June, up from 107 units in May 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 in Thunder Bay.
“The slight upward trend in housing starts in Thunder Bay comes as a result of strength in the June starts numbers just released. Despite this strengthening, new resale listings grew in the second quarter, reaching a level not seen in a second quarter since 2006. A higher number of new listings generally translates into fewer starts following a lag since listings, especially those at the high end of the market, serve as an alternative to building a new home,” observed Warren Philp, CMHC Market Analyst.
The trend is similar across Ontario. “The trend in Ontario residential construction activity reached a 17 month high in June. Strength in singles and rows was offset by a mild pullback in semi detached and apartment construction. Lower rental apartment vacancy rates, strong resale markets and more resources released to commence construction on a backlog of sold apartment units will continue to support starts activity across the province,” stated 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 standalone monthly SAAR was 313 units in June up from 169 units in May. This jump in the monthly SAAR came because of the relatively strong singles starts activity in the month of June.
