CMHC
releases housing start data
The
seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts reached 189,200 units
in July, according to new data from CMHC.
"Housing
starts moved lower in July, largely due to a decrease in urban single
starts and a reduction in rural starts," said Bob Dugan, chief
economist at CMHC's Market Analysis Centre. "Multiple starts partially
offset this moderation."
The seasonally adjusted
annual rate of urban starts rose 1.9 per cent to 169,300 units in July
while rural starts hit an estimated 19,900 units.
Last
month's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts dropped almost
15 per cent in B.C, 2.6 per cent in Ontario and 0.4 per cent in Quebec.
In the Atlantic Region, urban starts rose 37.7 per cent, 14.4 per cent
in the Prairie Region.
Source: CMP Magazine
Resale home prices double over
decade
Canada's resale market has out-priced new housing
over the past decade.
Between
2000 and the first half of 2010 the average cost of a new home
increased by about 50 per cent while the average price of a resale home
more than doubled, according to a report released Tuesday by Scotiabank.
The
bank attributes the robust resale numbers to a multitude of factors
including the tight supply of resale homes, low interest rates and
mortgage market innovation.
Scotiabank also
reports that increased household wealth has led to more renovations,
adding additional value to resale homes.
"The
typical Canadian resale home likely contains more updated and
sought-after features which would account for some of the rise in
average selling prices," the release said.
Residential
renovation expenditures increased at an over seven per cent average
annual rate between 2000 and 2009. Between 1990 and 1999, they declined
by an average of one per cent annually.
Source: CMP Magazine
Housing sales drop significantly
in
July
Canada's
housing market may have peaked this year, as Vancouver and Calgary
sales were down 45 and 42 per cent, respectively, compared to last July.
Mortgage rates are at a record low and there are many homes
available for sale yet new buyers are still not entering the market.
"We expected the market to soften because we've seen such a
flood of listings," said Laura Parsons, a Calgary-based manager at Bank
of Montreal who specializes in mortgages, to The Globe and Mail. "You
can look at this as a bad thing, but affordability has improved for
many buyers and rates are still very low."
Even still, it is likely many felt pressured to buy earlier
this year to secure a cheap mortgage, and avoid the harmonized sales
tax that came into effect July 1 in Ontario and British Columbia.
Source: CMP Magazine
