The seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of housing starts reached 174,500 units in December 2009. This is an increase from an annual rate of 164,800 units in November, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Actual housing starts for 2009 are being verified and will be reported in the January edition of Monthly Housing Statistics. They are expected to be lower due to low monthly rates earlier in the year.

“The improvement in housing starts was broad based in December,”

said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre.

“Solid increases occurred in both single and multiple starts to end the year.”

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 6.6 per cent to 157,100 units in December. Urban multiple starts increased from 72,800 units in November to 77,700 units in December. Single urban starts increased by 6.4 per cent to 79,400 units in December.

December’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 17.8 per cent in Quebec, by 15 per cent in Atlantic Canada, by 8.7 per cent in British Columbia and by 2.9 per cent in Ontario. The rate of urban starts decreased by 3.8 per cent in the Prairies.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,400 units in December².

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¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) — that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels.

² CMHC estimates the level of rural starts for each of the three months of the quarter, at the beginning of each quarter. During the last month of the quarter, CMHC conducts the survey in rural areas and revises the estimate.

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Tags: Housing, housing starts