December 2015 Housing Starts in Brantford CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in Brantford, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1,111 units in December compared to 852 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) of housing starts.

"The trend in Brantford CMA total housing starts increased in December, entirely due to a high number of condominium apartment starts," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the Hamilton and Brantford CMAs. "Condominium apartments are generally more affordable than other types of ownership housing. A shift in demand towards less expensive dwellings helps explain why the trend in single-detached housing starts has been decreasing in recent months."

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 1,968 units in December, up from 460 units in November. Similar to the trend measure, the December increase in the SAAR measure was entirely due to a higher number of apartment starts compared to the previous month. Condominium and rental apartment starts combine, reached their highest level on record in 2015.

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/1038924a.pdf