Toronto home sales slump in November from October

Housing starts in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 35,929 units in November compared to 36,541 in October according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) 1 of housing starts.

“The trend in housing starts in Toronto remained essentially stable in November. A small increase in semi-detached starts was more than offset by slight decreases in all other dwelling types,” said Ed Heese, CMHC’s Toronto Senior Market Analyst.

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite variable from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR was 36,741 units in November, down from 47,292 in October, although actual housing starts in November were relatively stable at 3,214 for 2013 compared with 3,298 in November 2012. On a year-to-date basis housing starts were down, with low-rise starts in line with last year and fewer apartment starts leading the overall decline. Apartment starts were unusually high in 2012 but have stabilized in 2013 at a more sustainable level.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables