Canadian Mortgage News

January 2005 National News Archive

Strong Housing Starts in April

OTTAWA, Ontario, May 9, 2005 — The seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of housing starts was 230,400 units in April, up 5.5 per cent from 218,400 units in March, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

“The strength in housing starts in April was broadly based regionally and in both single and multiple homes, lifting total starts above the 230,000 mark,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “Favourable economic factors, such as high levels of employment and low mortgage rates, continue to stimulate residential construction activity.”

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts rose 5.6 per cent to 200,400 units in April, with multiples leading the way. Multiple starts climbed 8.1 per cent in April to 104,400 units while single starts increased 3.1 per cent to 96,000 units on a seasonally adjusted annual basis.

In April, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased in four of the five regions across Canada compared to the previous month. The largest increases were in the Atlantic provinces and in Quebec, where starts rose 17.1 per cent and 16.3 per cent, respectively. Starts in April also increased compared to March in Ontario (9.7 per cent) and in the Prairies (0.5 per cent), but fell 12.0 per cent in British Columbia.

Rural starts in April were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 30,000 units.

For the first four months of 2005, actual urban starts were 5.4 per cent lower than in the same period of 2004. Year to date single starts fell 9.7 per cent, and multiple starts eased 1.2 per cent compared to the same period last year. 

1. All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) — that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels.

Information on this release:

Bob Dugan
CMHC
(613) 748-4009
bdugan@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

For regional starts information contact:

Atlantic provinces: Alex MacDonald, CMHC, (902) 426-8964, amacdona@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Quebec: Kevin Hughes, CMHC, (514) 283-4488, khughes@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Ontario: Ted Tsiakopoulos, CMHC, (416) 218-3407, ttsiakop@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Prairie provinces: Vinay Bhardwaj, CMHC, (403) 515-3004, vbhardwa@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

British Columbia: Carol Frketich, CMHC, (604) 737-4067, cfrketic@cmhc-schl.gc.ca 

News source: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)