Housing starts in both the Calgary and Edmonton regions rose in December compared to a year ago, according to a report released Thursday by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The agency said single-detached starts of 352 in the Calgary census metropolitan area were up by 58 per cent from December 2018. In the ‘all other’ category, which includes condominiums, the increase was 479 per cent to 1,778 starts.
The Edmonton census metropolitan area saw more modest increases: single-detached starts of 338 rose by two per cent year-over-year while the all other category was up 32 per cent to 404 units.
CMHC said the trend nationally in housing starts was 212,160 units in December, compared to 219,921 units in November. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
“The national trend in housing starts decreased in December,” Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, stated in a news release. “The declines are primarily led by lower-trending multi-family starts in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. However, the stable starts at year-end in Vancouver and significant growth in Calgary helped to partially offset the declines in other major centres.”
CMHC said it uses the trend measure, along with the monthly SAAR of housing starts, to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a fuller picture of Canada’s housing market. In some situations, analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as they are largely driven by the multi-unit segment of the market which can vary significantly from one month to the next, it said.
“The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 197,329 units in December, a decrease of three per cent from 204,320 units in November. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by four per cent in December to 185,934 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by five per cent to 138,049 units in December while single-detached urban starts increased by one per cent to 47,885 units,” added the agency.
“Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11,395 units.”
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
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