To: Buckey who wrote (49 ) 9/9/1999 9:00:00 AM From: roddio Respond to of 86
Housing starts from CMHC- Ontario strong FOR: CANADA MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION SEPTEMBER 9, 1999 CMHC: Housing Starts Stable in August OTTAWA, ONTARIO--Housing starts in Canada remained essentially unchanged in August at 147,400 units(1) from the revised level of 147,000 in July, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Urban multiples were up 10.6 per cent to 53,000 units while urban single declined 6.1 per cent to 72,000. "Starts maintained pace in August as multiples compensated for fewer singles. Activity should stay close to this rate for the rest of the year given recent trends in employment growth, mortgage rates and migration," said Philippe Le Goff, Senior Economist at CMHC's Market Analysis Centre. "August numbers now confirm that this year's starts will outpace the 1998 total of 137,439." Residential construction in Prairie urban centres increased 10.3 per cent from July to 29,000 units. Singles rose 5.6 per cent to 16,900 while multiples rose to 12,100 units. Starts were up in Alberta, but down in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Overall, Ontario starts increased by 1.1 per cent last month to 61,800 from 61,100 units in July. Multiples rose by 21 per cent to 27,200 units. Singles went down 10.6 per cent to 34,600. Toronto's residential construction was up sharply to 38,400 from 29,200 units in July. British Columbia starts were 12,900 units in August compared with the revised level of 13,400 the previous month. Singles decreased to 7,300 units and multiples to 5,600 units. In Vancouver, starts went down to 8,000 from 8,900 units the previous month. Residential construction in Quebec urban centres decreased 6.2 per cent to 16,600 units. Singles dropped 6.7 per cent to 9,800 while multiples went down 5.6 per cent to 6,800 units. Starts in Montreal were down to 9,200 units. Atlantic starts dropped by 23.0 per cent in August to 4,700 units compared with 6,100 in July. Starts were up in Prince Edward Island but down in the other three provinces. (1) All starts figures in this release are Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) -- raw monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect an annual pace. Other CMHC local and provincial releases may also present analysis using raw figures. -30-