Preliminary Total Housing Starts in Alberta's Major Urban Centres

Date Modified

2023-11-24

Update Frequency

Monthly

Creator

Publisher

Treasury Board and Finance

Topic

Start Date

2007-01-01

End Date

2023-11-30

Spatial Coverage

Alberta; Census Agglomerations (CA); Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)

Date Created

2023-11-24

Date Added to catalogue

2015-05-13T19:27:35.366330

Date Issued

2014-09-19

Date Modified

2023-11-24

Usage Considerations

Effective January 1, 2023, CMHC’s Starts and Completions Survey and Market Absorption Survey methodology has changed. Completions and absorptions will only be collected in Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). This means the following series are discontinued for Census Agglomerations of 50,000 population or more: completions, under construction inventory, length of construction (in months), absorbed units, percentage of absorbed units at completion, inventory of completed and unabsorbed units, absorbed unit prices and unabsorbed unit prices. The following series are also discontinued for urban centres of 10,000 – 49,999 population as well as Canada and Provincial All Areas: completions and under construction inventory.

The Starts and Completions Survey is conducted through site visits. These visits are used to confirm that new residential units have reached set stages in the construction process. Since most municipalities issue building permits, they are used as an indication of where construction is likely to take place. In areas where there are no permits, reliance is placed either on local sources or other field enumeration procedures.

The Starts and Completions Survey is carried out monthly in Census Agglomerations (starts only) and Census Metropolitan Areas (starts and completions activity). These areas have populations of over 50,000 as defined by the latest Census.

In urban areas with populations of 10,000 to 49,999, all starts are enumerated in the last month of each quarter. That is, 4 times a year, in March, June, September and December.

Monthly starts activity in quarterly locations are statistically estimated at a provincial level for single- and multi-family categories. Centres with populations below 10,000 are enumerated on a sample basis, also in the last month of each quarter.

The Starts and Completions Survey enumerates dwelling units placed on new, permanent foundations only and designed for non-transient, year-round occupancy.

Market Absorption Survey methods The Market Absorption Survey is carried out in conjunction with the Starts and Completions Survey. It is only conducted in Census Metropolitan Areas which have a population of 100,000 or more. This survey is only conducted for structures intended for the homeownership or condominium market.

When a structure is recorded as completed, an update is made as units are sold. The dwellings are then enumerated each month until such time that full absorption occurs. Full absorption is when all units within the structure have been sold.

Sales prices are collected whenever possible. Builder-occupied units are marked as sold at completion and no price is collected. Prices are only published when they would not result in the determination of individual responses provided.

Dwellings excluded from the survey include:

• Trailers or any other movable dwelling (the larger often referred to as a mobile home) with no permanent foundation
• Renovations and/or alterations within an existing structure
• Seasonal dwellings, such as: summer cottages, hunting and ski cabins, trailers and boat houses
• Hostel accommodations, such as: hospitals, nursing homes, penal institutions, convents, monasteries, military and industrial camps
• Collective types of accommodation such as: hotels, clubs, and lodging homes

Licence

Open Government Licence - Alberta

Contact Name

Office of Statistics and Information

Contact Email

osi.support@gov.ab.ca

Contact Other

(780) 427-2071