Charlottetown Dominates August Housing Starts


HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Sept. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in Prince Edward Island's urban areas were trending at 471 units in August compared to 350 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.

"Housing starts across Prince Edward Island's urban centres were concentrated in Charlottetown last month, with Charlottetown homebuilders pouring foundations for 64 of the 65 new residential units," said Sarena Teakles, Market Analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Market Analysis Centre. "Much of the activity was focused around multiple family units, which are seeing increased demand from seniors and newly arrived immigrants," added Teakles.

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 773 units in August, up from 288 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 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/1068630e.pdf

Contact Information:

Media Contact:
Patricia Montreuil
506-851-2229
Cell: 506-875-8895
pmontreu@cmhc.ca