October 8, 2009

OTTAWA – The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced today that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home construction was down 4.6 per cent from 157,300 units to 150,100 units.
“The decline in housing starts in September is attributable to the volatile multiple starts segment,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “However, starts of single homes, which are a barometer of the trend in housing markets, climbed in September to reach their highest level so far this year.”
Indeed, the volatile multi-family home segment was once again the determining factor in the direction of the overall starts number. Urban multiple starts decreased by 21.4 per cent to 62,700 units, while urban single starts moved up 16.8 per cent to 68,800 units in September. Urban starts were down 5.2 per cent overall to 131,500 units.
“The rebound in existing home sales and the upward trend in new home construction, support our expectation that housing demand has strengthened and that housing starts will be stronger in the second half of 2009,” said Dugan
Ontario was the country’s only region which saw an increase in the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts. Ontario’s starts in the segment were up 11.8 per cent, as compared to a 20.2 per cent decrease in Quebec, an 18.1 per cent decline in British Columbia, a 4.7 per cent decline in Atlantic Canada and the prairies were unchanged. Canadian rural starts were also unchanged.