December 2015 Housing Starts in Barrie

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Barrie Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1,359 units in December, down from 1,376 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) of housing starts.

"The trend of housing starts decreased slightly in December. There was a significant increase of starts of singles in the township of Springwater, not only in the last month, but throughout the year, pushing starts of singles higher in 2015 than in the previous year. This increase offset the decrease in single-detached starts in the City of Barrie due to the ongoing land scarcity. Total starts in the Barrie CMA were lower in 2015 compared to their level in the previous year, mainly due to the decline in starts of apartments. The number of apartments under construction was high last year, indicating builders were busy with already started projects," said Abdellah Massaoudi, CMHC's Market Analyst for Barrie.

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 718 units in December, down from 2,203 in November. This drop is mainly due to fewer single-detached starts which were the only home type that builders started in December.

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.

(Ce document existe également en français)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1038916a.pdf