Housing Starts in April

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By Elli Davis, May 12, 2010

Photo by See Ming Lee

Latest data about the housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area were published, on Monday, by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. They show that after a drop in March, housing starts started growing again in April.

Last month the total housing starts shown in the annual seasonally adjusted rates increased by 25 per cent up to 32,800 units. According to Shaun Hildebrand, CMHC’s Analyst, this is due “to an expected rebound in condo apartment starts”. It ought to be noted that the housing starts of single detached homes actually dropped by 29.2 percent, from 13,700 to 9,700 from March to April. But on the other hand the starts for multiple family homes recorded a significant rise, of 84.8 percent, from 12.500 to 23,100 during the same period. This caused the overall increase of housing starts.

As for whole of Canada, housing starts were up by 1.3 percent, at the level of 201,700 units in April. Even though the numbers are good, the economists may have been expecting something better in April.