TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Dec. 10, 2012) - Housing starts in London, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 3,048 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 3,661 units in November, up from 1,365 in October.
"Apartment starts continue to be the story in the London CMA into November. Demand for apartments based on growth of one and two-person households between the 2006 and 2011 census counts and continued improvement in employment for 25-44 year-olds, has led developers to add new stock to the marketplace." said Alexander Bonnyman, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for London.
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.
Total starts activity in November at 296 units was stronger than the 130 units started a year earlier. The increase was largely attributable to apartment units although single-detached starts were also higher than a year earlier by 21 per cent. Year-to-date starts at 2,148 units in 2012 are 33 per cent higher than the 2011 figure, primarily on strong apartment starts in the second and third quarter. This trend continued into the fourth quarter with 192 apartment units started in November. Work started in November on a large condominium building (165 units) and a smaller rental building. Year-to-date apartment starts are more than double the year-end 2011 result. Apartment starts in 2011 were well below the preceding 5-year average of apartment starts. Apartment starts to date in 2012 are approximately 15 per cent above the preceding five-year average.
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.
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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To view accompanying graph and tables, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/LondonHousingStarts.pdf