August 2016 Housing Starts in Barrie

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Barrie Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1,667 units in August, up from 1,414 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) of housing starts.

"An increase in the trend for apartment starts pulled the trend for total housing starts up again in August after a dip in the previous month. Builders have now started apartment projects in four consecutive months, something that has not happened in Barrie since 1989. Limited land availability for new residential construction is encouraging a shift to higher-density housing in the Barrie CMA," said Abdellah Massaoudi, CMHC's Market Analyst for Barrie.

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, analyzing 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 standalone monthly SAAR was 2,471 units in August, up from 2,249 in July. This increase in the SAAR measure was due to a slight increase in singles starts and a more significant increase 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.

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.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1068719a.pdf