November 2016 Housing Starts in St. Catharines-Niagara

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending slightly lower at 2,014 units in November compared to 2,143 in October, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

"The trend in total housing starts continued to decline in November largely as a result of a declining trend of single-detached starts," said James Cuddy, CMHC's Market Analyst. "The recent slow-down in the trend of single starts was preceded by several months of strong activity in the new homes market not seen since the early '90s. Demand for new homes is being generated by a low number of listings in the existing homes market coupled with an influx of individuals from the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton CMA who are being attracted to the relatively more affordable homes in St. Catharines-Niagara CMA."

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. In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite variable from one month to the next. The multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.

The SAAR of total housing starts was 1,515 in November down from 1,745 in October. The SAAR decrease was mostly due to a decline in starts of single-detached, semi-detached and row units.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link:
Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

For more information, visit our website at www.cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Additional data is available upon request.

(Ce document existe également en français)

To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1079369E.pdf