July 10, 2013, Ottawa — Housing starts remained "essentially stable" in June, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's deputy chief economist.
Housing starts in Canada were trending at 184,514 units in June, up from 184,087 in May.
"As expected, the trend in total housing starts remained essentially stable in June, for a third consecutive month. This reflects general stability in regional trends over the same period. As a result, the trend in national housing activity remains close to its historical average and is in-line with estimates of household formation," said CMHC's Mathieu Laberge.
CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts to account for swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analyzing 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 volatile from one month to the next.
The standalone monthly SAAR was 199,586 units in June (a decrease from 204,616 in May).
The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 2.7 per cent in June to 177,085 units, as both the single and multiple urban starts segments declined in June. Specifically, single urban starts deceased by 4.1 per cent to 62,743 units in June while the multiple urban starts segment decreased by 2.0 per cent to 114,342 units.
June's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased in British Columbia. Urban starts decreased in all other regions, including Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 22,501 units in June.
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