December 2015 Housing Starts in Guelph

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Guelph Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending lower at 1,494 units in December compared to 1,551 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.

"Total starts trended lower in December. Although starts for all housing types trended lower in December, most of the decline was due to the lower level of single-detached starts," said Erica McLerie, Senior Market Analyst at CMHC. "Strong employment and population growth continue to support housing demand, especially for ground-oriented single-detached homes and townhomes. A tight resale market has meant some spillover to the new home market."

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 642 units in December, up from 497 units in November, due to a higher level of townhouse starts. For 2015, actual housing starts increased by seven per cent from 2014, due to higher single-detached and townhouse starts. Townhouse starts more than doubled 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/1038930a.pdf