February 10, 2009
OTTAWA—The CMHC released its January housing start statistics and for the fourth consecutive month they showed a national retreat. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts declined to 153,500 units. That’s down over 12 per cent from 172,200 units just a month ago.
Single urban developments were the hardest hit sub-category. Urban starts as a whole decreased 15.6 per cent to 126,700 units, while urban singles were down a sharper 20.2 per cent to 50,000 units. Urban multiple starts fared slightly better, decreasing 12.2 per cent to 76,700 units in January
“To a certain extent, the decline in housing starts coincides with recent developments in the existing home market,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist with the CMHC in a press release. “Reduced sales and increased listings in the existing home market have led to reduced spillover demand in the new home market.”
Regionally, the West clearly took the brunt of the slow down. January’s seasonally adjusted urban starts were down 30.3 per cent from last month in the Prairies and 29.1 per cent in British Columbia. That as compared to only 1.4 per cent in Quebec, 8.6 per cent in the Atlantic Provinces and 14.6 per cent in Ontario. Regional data for rural areas has not yet been released.
Actual January starts fared even worse. Nationally they were down 35.8 per cent from near peak levels at the same time last year. Western provinces paced the losses again, with the Prairie Provinces starting 62.6 per cent fewer urban units and British Columbia building 59.8 per cent fewer units. Ontario was next in line with 32.6 per cent fewer new urban starts than in January 2008, followed by a 13.3 per cent loss in Quebec and 9.6 per cent in Atlantic Canada.
Urban starts led the decline, sliding 40.4 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. Single units made up the lion’s share of that number with 44.2 per cent fewer starts, compared 38.1 per cent fewer multiple unit starts.
The lone bright spots in all this were the rural start numbers. Actual starts in January were up 36.3 per cent, while seasonally adjusted starts were up 21.3 per cent.
For more information on the methodology used to gather these numbers or for a more detailed statistical breakdown, the CMHC can be contacted at 1-800-668-2642 or www.cmhc.ca
Housing Starts, Actual and SAAR |
||||
Actual |
SAAR |
|||
January |
January |
December |
January |
|
Final |
Preliminary |
Final |
Preliminary |
|
Canada, all areas |
12,918 |
8,287 |
172,200 |
153,500 |
Canada, rural areas |
765 |
1,043 |
22,100 |
26,800 |
Canada, urban centres |
12,153 |
7,244 |
150,100 |
126,700 |
Canada, singles, urban centres |
4,505 |
2,512 |
62,700 |
50,000 |
Canada, multiples, urban centres |
7,648 |
4,732 |
87,400 |
76,700 |
Atlantic region, urban centres |
385 |
348 |
8,100 |
7,400 |
Quebec, urban centres |
2,330 |
2,021 |
36,700 |
36,200 |
Ontario, urban centres |
4,254 |
2,873 |
60,300 |
51,500 |
Prairie region, urban centres |
2,881 |
1,077 |
25,100 |
17,500 |
British Columbia, urban centres |
2,303 |
925 |
19,900 |
14,100 |
Chart and table source: CMHC
