Multiples lead home start increase

July 18, 2018

Record starts of multi-family units are credited for the June increase in national housing starts, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), which reports the seasonally-adjusted annual rate (SAAR) was 222,041 units in the month, up marginally from a month earlier.
"The national trend in housing starts increased in June, reflecting a jump in the SAAR of multi-unit dwellings in urban centres in June to a historical high," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "Notably, the national inventory of newly completed and unabsorbed multi-unit dwellings has remained below its 10-year historical average so far in 2018, indicating that demand for this type of unit has absorbed increased supply."
Highlights in the report include:
• Metro Victoria housing starts were up 45 per cent in June compared to a year earlier, led by apartment and townhouse construction. Condo starts were up nearly 60 per cent on the year.
• Calgary starts to date this year are up 8 per cent from the first half of 2017, with condominium starts up a startling 36 per cent.
• A surge in Kingston construction is traced to rental unit building as the city wrestles with the lowest rental vacancy rate in Ontario, at 0.7 per cent.
• Greater Toronto condominium starts hit a 30-year high for the month, with most of the activity expressed in high-rise construction in Toronto, Mississauga and Vaughan.
Across Canada, seasonally adjusted urban starts increased 29.9 per cent in June to 228,844 units consisting of 172,845 multiple-family starts, an increase of 46.4 per cent from May 2018, and 55,999 single-detached urban starts, a decrease of 3.5 per cent from May 2018.  CMHC also estimated rural starts across Canada? at a SAAR of 19,294 homes in June.