A jump in December helped push the number of housing starts in the capital up for the year 2013, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. announced on Thursday.
The year ended with 6,564 starts, a nine per cent jump when compared to the 6,026 recorded in 2012.
December brought the year to a close on a high note. The month had 421 standalone starts, an increase over 382 during the same month the year before.
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The six-month moving average of monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates – CMHC’s preferred choice for measuring housing starts – saw a decrease for December. That metric fell to 7,327 units from 7,797 units in November.
“Housing starts moderated slightly in December in continuation of the slowing trend in activity which began earlier in the year,” said Sandra Perez-Torres, CMHC’s senior market analyst for the region, in a statement.
The year also saw a slight shake up in the most popular areas for building housing units.
The highest percentage of construction for the year again took place in the city core, the CMHC said in its press release. It had 2,262 starts.
Second place Kanata saw a substantial increase in activity in 2013, jumping to 1,124 from 761 the year before. Third place Nepean dropped to 969 from 1,090.
