Real Estate News

Canadian Housing Starts, December 2010 Results

Release Date: February 8, 2010

Canadian Housing Starts, December 2010 Results

Source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

Link to Releases:
For CMHC’s GTA release: http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/press/2010/2011_01_08_0815_EOT.pdf
For CMHC’s national release: http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/nere/2011/2011-02-08-0815.cfm

Summary: Canadian housing starts increased by almost one per cent in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 170,400 from the downwardly revised figure of 169,000 for December. The increase was due to a 20 per cent jump in rural starts. Urban starts, for both singledetached and multiple-family starts, were down by two per cent. The GTA bucked the downward trend in urban starts, with the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts up 37 per cent to 25,400.

Analysis: New home construction has generally been trending upward since the beginning of 2010. Condominium apartment construction has been the key driver. There are a number of projects in the GTA that have reached their pre-construction sales targets, but have yet to start construction. As builders shift resources to new projects, expect a continued uptrend in home construction through 2011.