August 2015 Housing Starts in New Brunswick

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Sept. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in New Brunswick's urban centres were trending at 1,128 units in August compared to 1,000 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.

"The weakness in actual multiples starts across New Brunswick's urban centres this month continued to keep total housing starts below year-earlier levels," said Sarena Teakles, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Market Analysis Centre. "The slower pace of multiples construction activity has been persistent throughout 2015, particularly in both Moncton and Saint John," she added.

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 1,525 units in August, down from 1,803 in July.

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 advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1024377e%20-%20graph.pdf

Additional data is available upon request.

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(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.