June 2011 Housing Starts

— The seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of housing starts was 197,400 units in June, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This is up from a revised 194,100 units in May 2011. April 2011 has also been revised to 194,100 units.

“Housing starts increased in June due to an increase in single and multiple starts in Ontario,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “The revised numbers show that housing starts have been above their trend line since March. However, we expect housing starts to move back towards levels consistent with demographic fundamentals in the near term.”

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 2.2 per cent to 174,600 units in June. Urban single starts were up by 11.1 per cent in June to 70,900 units, while multiple urban starts decreased by 3.1 per cent to 103,700 units.

June’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 24.1 per cent in Ontario, and by 5.6 per cent in the Atlantic region. British Columbia posted a decrease of 27.6 per cent over the same period, while urban starts decreased 3.6 per cent in Québec, and by 1.2 per cent in the Prairie region.

Rural starts² were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 22,800 units in June.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of high 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.

For more information, call 1-800-668-2642.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts, 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 makes it possible to highlight the fundamental trends of a series. 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.

² CMHC estimates the level of starts in centres with a population of less than 10,000 for each of the three months of the quarter, at the beginning of each quarter. During the last month of the quarter, CMHC conducts the survey in these centres and revises the estimate.