TORONTO -- Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trended lower at 36,810 units in July compared to 39,108, in June 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.
“Toronto housing starts decreased for the first time in five months, due to contracting apartment starts. However, strong sales of pre-construction condominium apartments over the past two years will convert to more starts as the year progresses,” said Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. “Low-rise starts remained robust. A tighter resale market also resulted in demand spilling over into the new home market.”
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 stand alone monthly SAAR was 23,657 units in July, down from 30,623 units in June. This was the result of a decrease in apartment starts this month.
The City of Toronto maintained the highest number of starts, most of which were apartment units, but also a large number of single-detached and row starts. The City of Vaughan and Brampton had the next highest number of starts, which was made up of mostly single-detached homes.
“Toronto housing starts decreased for the first time in five months, due to contracting apartment starts. However, strong sales of pre-construction condominium apartments over the past two years will convert to more starts as the year progresses,” said Dana Senagama, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for the GTA. “Low-rise starts remained robust. A tighter resale market also resulted in demand spilling over into the new home market.”
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 stand alone monthly SAAR was 23,657 units in July, down from 30,623 units in June. This was the result of a decrease in apartment starts this month.
The City of Toronto maintained the highest number of starts, most of which were apartment units, but also a large number of single-detached and row starts. The City of Vaughan and Brampton had the next highest number of starts, which was made up of mostly single-detached homes.