August 2016 Housing Starts in St. Catharines-Niagara

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending higher at 2,387 units in August compared to 2,282 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 total housing starts rose in August as a result of an increase in the trend of single-detached and semi-detached starts," said James Cuddy, CMHC's Market Analyst. "In fact, single-detached starts have been trending higher since the beginning of the year. Demand for new housing is supported by migrants moving into the region from elsewhere in the province and a resale market where new listings have not kept pace with sales. Niagara Falls has been the municipality within the St. Catharines-Niagara CMA in which the largest number of these new starts have occurred."

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 2,334 in August down from 2,614 in July. The SAAR decrease was due to a decline in starts for rows and apartments.

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/1068736a.pdf