THUNDER BAY – Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 521 units in November, 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 674 units in November, down from 1,240 in October.
“Another 30 condominium apartment starts in November, combined with an above average 28 single-detached starts brought total starts in the year-to-date almost even with 2011. Single-detached starts have now risen over 200 units, only the third time in the last 17 years,” said 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 multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.
Condominium unit starts this year have reached 118 units, the highest number of condo starts since 1991 when there were 204 units started. Year-to-date total starts have reached 362 units, only four units behind last year, with over 40 per cent of those units being semi-detached, row and or apartment units.
