December 2014 Housing Starts in Brantford CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in Brantford, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 404 units in December compared to 408 units in November, 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.

"The trend in Brantford CMA total housing starts remained unchanged in December 2014, as stronger single-detached construction completely offset a weaker townhouse performance. Single-detached housing starts for 2014 were up 6.5 per cent compared to 2013. Move-up buyers coming from more expensive neighbouring municipalities continued to support single-detached housing construction in Brantford. Typically, move-up buyers are in the 45 to 54 age group," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the Hamilton and Brantford CMAs.

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 526 units in December, down from 616 units in November. This month's decline in the SAAR measure was completely due to weaker townhouse construction. Townhouse starts for 2014 were 76 units, down 39 per cent from 125 units in 2013.

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 advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

Additional data is available upon request.

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(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.

A graph and tables are available at the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/986882e.pdf.