CMHC: Canadian Housing Starts Trend Held Steady in October

OTTAWA — In October, housing starts remained stable, as the trend remained essentially unchanged from September. While apartment starts are on a downward trend in British Columbia after reaching an all-time high at the beginning of the year, increased construction of single, semi-detached and row units in the rest of the country have helped offset the decline.
The trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 199,920 units in October compared to 199,262 in September. The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
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 Canada’s housing market. In some situations, analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading. This is because they are largely driven by the multi-unit segment of the market which can vary significantly from one month to the next.
Other notable October data:

• The standalone monthly SAAR for all areas in Canada was 192,928 units, down from 219,363 units in September.
• The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 12.1 per cent to 176,131 units.
• Multiple urban starts decreased by 15.3 per cent to 115,402 units.
• Single-detached urban starts decreased by 5.4 per cent to 60,729 units.
• Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16,797 units.
• Regionally, the SAAR of urban starts decreased in British Columbia, Quebec, the Prairies, and in Atlantic Canada, but increased in Ontario.