August 2016 Housing Starts in Hamilton CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 3,069 units in August compared to 3,164 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) of housing starts.

"The trend in Hamilton CMA total housing starts was down due to a broadly based slowdown in the trends for starts of all dwelling types in August 2016 compared to the previous month," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs. "Despite the decline in August, the trend for total housing starts has been rising strongly in 2016, driven by exceptionally strong multi-unit housing construction. This phenomenon reflected a shift in demand from single-detached homes to multi-unit housing, as these types of dwellings are considered relatively more affordable in Hamilton."

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 2,168 units in August, down from 4,283 units in July. Similar to the trend measure, the August decrease in the SAAR measure was due to fewer housing starts among all dwelling types compared to 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 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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cmhc0908hame.pdf.