December 2015 Housing Starts in the Sherbrooke CMA

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Sherbrooke census metropolitan area (CMA) were trending at 1,147 units in December, compared to 1,335 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 lower in December in the Sherbrooke CMA for almost all housing types, especially apartments. In 2015, the number of housing starts rebounded after reaching a 10-year low in 2014. The construction of condominium and rental housing projects mainly contributed to the strength in activity in 2015. For their part, starts of semi-detached and row homes climbed slightly compared to 2014, while the construction of single-detached homes reached an historical low. The slowdown in household formation and the large supply on the existing home market are among the factors that are dampening demand for single-detached homes," said Marie-Claude Guillotte, Senior Market Analyst at CMHC.

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, analyzing 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 stand-alone monthly SAAR was 1,381 units in December, down from 2,392 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 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/1038896a.pdf