Calgary housing starts rise slightly from previous month

Oil prices may be hitting new lows, but new housing builds were on the rise in Calgary last month.

According to the latest numbers from theCanada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing startswere trending at 14,381 units in Calgary's Census MetropolitanAreain November, up from13,779 in October.

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"Housing starts trended higher in November as both single-detached and multi-family construction increased from a month earlier," saysRichard Cho, CMHC's principal market analystfor Calgary.

Cho adds that while thepace of row housing starts in November had risen from the month before, apartment construction also increased partly because ofmore rental units breaking ground.

The trend is calculated using a six-month moving average of the monthly, Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rates (SAAR)of total housing starts.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.

The standalone monthly SAAR for Calgary was 16,179 units in November, up from 13,198 in October as single-detached and multi-family construction rose from the previous month.

Butactual housing starts reached 12,277, compared to 16,291 during the same period last year.