August 2015 Housing Starts in Windsor

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in the Windsor Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 1,000 units in August compared to 735 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.

"Starts of all dwelling types trended up in August. The sharpest upward trend was in apartment starts, as August marked the first time since June 2006 that more than 50 apartments were started in one month in Windsor. New condominium apartments are being built to address the shortage of resale homes listed for sale that appeal to empty nesters looking to downsize," said Anthony Passarelli, Senior Market Analyst with 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 monthly SAAR of total starts was 1,807 units in August, up from 990 in July primarily due to the occurrence of apartment starts, which do not happen every month in Windsor. Row and semi-detached home starts were also higher in August.

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.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1024318a.pdf