October 2012 Housing Starts in Ottawa

Real Estate — November 8, 2012

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 8, 2012) - Housing starts in Ottawa, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 7,305 units in October, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) ¹ of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 3,519 units in October down from 6,220 units in September.

"In October, housing starts moderated largely due to the expected slowdown in apartment construction. The year-to-date pace for high-rise starts is the highest on record clearly reflecting the mid-year boost to apartment construction, while low-rise starts came in at their lowest level since 1996. Year-to-date starts figures signal the trend-shift toward the more affordable multi dwellings type," Sandra Pérez Torres, Senior Market Analyst for Eastern and Northern Ontario.

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 the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets, which can be quite variable from one month to the next. The multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.

In October, Cumberland captured over half of all housing construction in Ottawa, while Nepean captured another 20 per cent of the market. Activity in Cumberland was almost evenly split between single-detached dwellings at 81 units and multiple dwellings at 91 units. This is Cumberland`s highest monthly activity since December 2009.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

^[1] All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request.

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To view the figures associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cmhotables103.pdf

Contact Information

Sandra Perez-Torres
Senior Market Analyst
613-748-5120
sperezto@cmhc.ca

National Media Contact
Beth Bailey
Consultant, Communications and Marketing
(416) 218-3355
bbailey@cmhc.ca