December 2014 Housing Starts in Peterborough

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in the Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at an annual rate of 241 units in December compared to 248 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 housing starts trend was stable in December, as it had been for the last 11 months. During 2014 total housing starts activity was slower than in 2013, primarily due to fewer multi-unit structures being built. There were no apartment starts during 2014, a change after two particularly strong years for apartment construction in 2012 and 2013. Demand for apartments is growing at a slow rate in Peterborough, so one apartment building can provide enough supply to satisfy demand for a considerable period," said Olga Golozub, CMHC's Market Analyst for Peterborough.

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 265 units in December, up from 256 in November.

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

¹All 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.

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/986895a.pdf