December 2016 Housing Starts in Gatineau

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Jan. 10, 2017) - Housing starts in the Gatineau area were trending at 2,110 units in December, compared to 1,890 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 year 2016 ended in December with an increase in the housing starts trend. In all, 1,819 housing starts were recorded in 2016, or 15 per cent more than in 2015. "This rebound in residential construction in the Gatineau area was mainly apparent in the condominium and rental housing segments, where several large housing projects were started. The rise in activity was attributable to a greater housing demand, which also allowed the decrease in the inventory of unsold units on the new and existing home markets," said Geneviève Lapointe, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the Gatineau area.

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 2,287 units in December, up from 1,146 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/1082128a.pdf