August 2013 Housing Starts in Ottawa

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 10, 2013) - Housing starts in Ottawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 7,534 units in August compared to 6,477 units in July 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.

"Seasonally adjusted housing starts firmed once again in August following strong July building activity. Single-detached construction regained somewhat the ground lost since 2012 while row starts revitalized. On the other hand, apartment construction retreated but remained at a healthy level. This resulted in a more even split in construction shares between single, row and apartment construction." said Sandra Perez Torres, Senior Market Analyst for Eastern and Northern Ontario.

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.
In Ottawa, the standalone monthly SAAR was 8,994 units in August down from 11,328 units in July.

In August, almost thirty per cent of total construction activity took place in Kanata, driven by a new 173-rental apartment building. Following closely in second place, Nepean (outside the greenbelt) took hold of just under a quarter of the market, supported mostly by single-family homes and rows. Lastly, due to a warm start early this year, the city core's activity moderated as it secured only one third of apartment construction.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link:
Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

⁽¹⁾ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request.

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A graph and tables are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/897172a.pdf