TORONTO – BUSINESS – Housing starts in the Ontario region were trending at 71,289 units in September, down from 74,244 units in August, 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 Ontario residential construction trend eased in September due to the more volatile multi-unit sector. Starts for single detached homes remained elevated. Housing starts still remain above provincial estimates of the rate of household formation. A slower pace of job growth moving forward, and more balance in the resale market should encourage convergence between starts and the rate of household formation,” 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 SAAR of total urban housing starts was 67,426 units in September, down from 70,261 units in August. For the period ending September 2016, Ontario urban home starts are running six per cent higher versus the same period one year ago.
Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link:
