December 2015 Housing Starts in St. Catharines-Niagara

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending lower at 2,033 units in December compared to 2,036 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 total housing starts remained elevated and relatively unchanged in December, due to the significant number of apartment starts that occurred in the second part of the year. Single-detached and row starts trended up in December, offsetting declines in starts of semi-detached homes. Growth in wages and employment in 2015 because of a stronger economy supported the housing market. Total housing starts in 2015 represent the second highest total in the new millennium," said Edgard Navarrete, CMHC's Market Analyst for St. Catharines-Niagara.

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 1,673 in December up from 1,227 in November. Increased single-detached and row home starts lifted the SAAR.

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/1038937e.pdf