August 2015 Housing Starts in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending higher at 3,334 units in August compared to 2,928 units in July, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) ¹ of housing starts.

"Total housing starts trended higher due to more townhouse and apartment starts. Townhomes are an affordable alternative to the more expensive single-detached homes, but still have their own ground-oriented entrance. Growth in the population aged between 25 and 34 years old has increased demand from first-time buyers looking for their first home. Students, young households and seniors support demand for rental apartments, while first-time buyers and downsizing households support demand for condominium apartments. A tight resale market has meant more spill-over to the new home ownership market, boosting demand for single-detached homes and townhouses," said Erica McLerie, Senior Market Analyst at CMHC.

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 3,677 units in August, up from 2,692 units in July. The increase in the SAAR was due to more townhouse starts. For the first eight months of 2015, actual starts have declined by 6.5 per cent from the same time last year due to fewer apartment starts.

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.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request.

(Ce document existe également en français)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/150909_Kitchener.pdf