CMHC Reports Housing Starts Increased In February

WEDNESDAY, 09 MARCH 2011 12:49

Led by an upswing in numbers in both Ontario and the Prairies and an increase in condominium construction, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts went up in February, according to CMHC.

While this upward movement is good news, there is expectation from analysts that this will not last.

In February, there were 181,900 units, up from 170,600 units in January 2011.

“Housing starts moved higher in February because of increases in Ontario and the Prairies,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre. “The bulk of this increase was felt in the multiples segment. From last month, multi-family starts were up in Saskatchewan and in Toronto.”

In February, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts went up by 9.4 % to 161,000 units. Urban multiple starts rose by 14.5 % to 94,900 units, compared with single urban starts that rose by 3.0 % to 66,100 units. Looking at starts, region to region, February’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts fell in a number of areas- notably-  Atlantic Canada (24.7%) , Québec (7.1%), and B.C. (5.9%). Conversely, urban starts went up by 29.3 % in Ontario and by 26.1 % in the Prairies.

Notably, some felt that in B.C. in particular, uncertainty with the HST contributed heavily to the drop.

Rural starts were projected to be at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 20,900 units in February