February 8, 2009
OTTAWA – The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has announced that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home construction was up some 5.3 per cent to 186,300 units in January. In a related report, the CMHC found that actual housing starts for 2009 totaled 149,081 units.
“Housing starts improved in both the singles and multiples segments in January,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at the CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “These increases are similar to the ones that occurred in December.”
Urban starts, as a class, were up 4.4 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 165,200 units in January. The rise was relatively balanced; multiple-family starts were up 5.7 per cent to 76,300 units while single-family starts increased 3.3 per cent to 88,900 units.
Regionally, British Columbia was the big winner with its starts rising 19.8 per cent. Quebec also did very well, with its starts up 7.3 per cent. Atlantic Canada and Ontario saw their starts rise modestly by 2.3 and 1.5 per cent respectively. The Prairies saw their starts drop 4.8 per cent on the month.
