The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has recently released preliminary housing starts data for the month of May. The trend in housing starts is measured via a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). There were 196,750 units of housing starts for the month of May, which corresponds to a decrease of 1,894 units since April.
Excluding Quebec from the calculations, the overall housing starts national trend has fallen in May. There were 155,600 housing starts in April, which then decreased to 151,072 units in May. Although there was an increase in multi-family housing starts in the Atlantic provinces as well as Ontario, much of that increase was offset by a drop in units in the prairie provinces as well as British Columbia. The CMHC is anticipating a continued decline in housing starts in the near future, given the significant impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures.
With respect to the standalone seasonally adjusted annual rate, the CMHC found there to be a decrease of 20.4% in housing starts between April and May. Meanwhile, housing starts in urban areas fell 21.6% in the same duration.
Information for this briefing was found via CMHC, CNW Group, and Newswire. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
