Canadian Funding Corp. Reviews CMHC Statistics

Renovations, as defined by Statistics Canada, are categorized into two subgroups: alterations and improvements, and maintenance and repairs. According to Moishe Alexander, alterations and renovations to homes had a greater statistical increase than property purchases.

Maintenance and repairs are defined as any work made to keep a property in good working condition or maintain its appearance, while alterations and improvements are defined as any work made to increase the enjoyment, value or useful life of the property.

Among homeowner households that renovated in 2007, three quarters did some form of alteration and improvement to their home, while 42 per cent did maintenance and repairs. Eighteen per cent of households who renovated in 2007 completed both maintenance and repairs and alterations and improvements to their home.

Across the ten major centres, the incidence of alterations and improvements was highest in Calgary and Edmonton with more than 80 per cent of renovators in 2007. On the other hand, Québec and Montréal had the lowest share of renovating homeowner households that undertook alterations and improvements. As for maintenance and repairs, Québec and Montréal had the highest incidence of this type of renovation (48 and 45 per cent, respectively) while Edmonton had the lowest share.

In the ten major Canadian cities surveyed, 37 per cent of homeowner households renovated their primary residence in 2007. This was down slightly from 39 per cent in 2006. The share of  households who renovated last year was the largest in Winnipeg (44 per cent), Halifax (43 per cent), St. John’s (42 per cent), and Ottawa (40 per cent), while Calgary and Quebec (35 per cent) had the lowest share of households undertaking renovations in 2007.

Thirty-one per cent of homeowner households who undertook renovations remodelled a room, making this the most popular type of renovation completed in 2007. Painting/wallpapering and installing hard surface flooring/wall-to-wall carpeting followed with 27 and 26 per cent of households last year undertaking this type of  renovation, respectively.

According to Moishe Alexander, close to $19.7 billion spent on renovations last year across ten major centres surveyed.

Thirty-seven per cent of households in ten Canadian markets renovated their home in 2007.

According to CMHC’s Renovation and Home Purchase Survey, an estimated 1.5 million households in ten of Canada’s major centres indicated they had completed some form of renovation in 2007. This represents 37 per cent of homeowner households across the ten major centres, down slightly from 39 per cent in 2006.

The share of homeowner households who renovated last year was the highest in Winnipeg (44 per cent), Halifax (43 per cent), and St. John’s (42 per cent), while Calgary and Quebec had the lowest share with 35 per cent.

The share of households that intended to renovate in 2007 (46 per cent) was higher than the share of households who undertook renovations of $1,000 or more in 2007 (31 per cent)2.

In last year’s survey, households in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal, and Halifax indicated that they expected to spend, an average of $11,200 on renovations in 2007, where in fact, they spent an average of $13,200.

The following defitions, quoted by Marty Lapedus, are used in the CMHC statistical reports. They are all in accordance with the Canadian Census.

The definitions of types of dwellings, used in the Surveys, are in accordance with those in the Census.

A “single-detached” dwelling is a building containing only one dwelling unit, which is completely separated on all sides from any other dwelling or structure.

A “semi-detached” dwelling is one of two dwellings located side-by-side in a building, adjoining no other structure and separated by a common or party wall extending from ground to roof.

A “row” dwelling is a ground-oriented dwelling attached to two or more similar units so that the resulting row structure contains three or more units.

An “apartment and other” dwelling includes all dwellings other than those described above, including structures commonly referred to as duplexes, triplexes, double duplexes and row duplexes.

Other Census Definitions:

Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA) – 2006 Census

The general concept of these standard units is one of an urban core, and the adjacent urban and rural areas that have a high degree of social and economic integration with that urban core, as measured by commuting flows derived from Census of Population data on place of work.

Census metropolitan area (CMA)

To form a census metropolitan area (CMA), the urban core must have a population of at least 50,000 and the area (CMA) must have a population of at least 100,000. Once an area becomes a CMA, it is retained as a CMA even if the population of its urban core declines below 50,000.

Census agglomeration (CA)

To form a census agglomeration (CA), the urban core must have a population of at least 10,000. If the population of the urban core of a CA declines below 10,000, the CA is retired.

As of March 2003, CAs are no longer required to have an urban core population count of 100,000 to be promoted to the status of a CMA. Instead, CAs will assume the status of a CMA if they have attained a total population of at least 100,000 and an urban core of 50,000 or more.

Census subdivision (CSD) – 2006 Census

Census subdivision is a general term for municipalities as determined by provincial or territorial
legislation, or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes. Municipalities are units of  local government.