Housing Starts trending up in July
August 12, 2020 | By HPAC Magazine
Following declines in previous months from COVID-19 measures, higher activity in June and July leaves the trend in housing starts in line with the long-run average level of housing starts.
According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) the trend in housing starts across the country moved in a positive direction in July over the previous month. The measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
“The national trend in housing starts increased for a second month in July,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, in a media release. “Higher multi-family starts in major urban areas, including Toronto, Vancouver and oil-producing centres in the Prairies drove the national increase. Following declines in previous months from COVID-19 measures, higher activity in June and July leaves the trend in housing starts in line with the long-run average level of housing starts. We expect national starts to trend lower in the near term as a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic and housing indicators.”
(CMHC)
The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 245,604 units in July, an increase of 15.8% from 212,095 units in June.
The SAAR of urban starts increased by 17.4% in July to 231,995 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 18.8% to 184,431 units in July while single-detached urban starts increased by 12.3% to 47,564 units.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13,609 units.
