December 2016 Housing Starts in Kingston

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 10, 2017) - Housing starts in the Kingston Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 462 units in December compared to 444 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.

"Housing starts in Kingston were trending slightly higher for the month of December driven primarily by more row home starts which were trending at the highest levels since the end of 2014. The start of ground oriented housing remained relatively unchanged, supported by stable full-time employment and higher average weekly earnings," said Aris Gianneskis, CMHC's Market Analyst for Kingston. "Overall in 2016, Kingston starts declined 37 per cent from 2015, mainly due to almost no apartment starts as certain anticipated projects are still pending final approval."

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 534 units in December, up from 403 in November, as the start of more row homes more than offset the fewer single-detached homes.

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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1082243e.pdf