Drop in Ontario housing spurs national dip

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 8:54AM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 10:17PM EDT

A drop in the number of condominium and apartment building construction projects in Toronto slowed the pace of Canadian house starts last month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said on Tuesday.

In its monthly report, the CMHC pointed to a dip in urban multiples starts in Ontario, specifically Toronto, as a primary reason why fewer homes were built in September.

The CMHC says there were 19,750 starts across the country last month, setting a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 220,215 a 3 per cent dip from last month.

Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at CMHC, said in a statement that Septembers housing construction numbers were largely in line with the latest figures, save for an anticipated dip in multiple-home buildings.

As expected, the number of multiples starts in Ontario, particularly in Toronto, reverted back to a level more in line with the average pace of activity over the last six months, Laberge said..

Following a period of elevated housing starts activity due to strong volumes of multi-family unit pre-sales in 2010 and 2011, the pace of housing starts is expected to moderate.

The CMHC uses a seasonally adjusted annual rate calculation to account for swings in monthly estimates. The number is calculated by taking a monthly figure and extrapolating it over a 12-month period, adjusting it for seasonal variations.

In September, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 220,215, down from 225,328 in August.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of construction starts in urban centres decreased by 3 per cent in September to 203,731 units. Construction starts in rural areas stayed relatively constant at 16,484 units.

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Drop in Ontario housing spurs national dip