December 2016 Housing Starts in Peterborough

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 10, 2017) - Housing starts in the Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 450 units in December compared to 553 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.

"The housing starts trend in Peterborough CMA continued its downward movement in December. The two consecutive monthly declines reversed the strengthening trend witnessed since April 2016, which was supported by the single-detached and apartment starts that reached their highest levels since 2007 and 1991 respectively. Two thirds of apartment starts were intended for the rental market, as builders responded to low vacancy rates," said Olga Golozub, CMHC's Market Analyst for Peterborough.

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 multi-unit segment includes apartment, row and semi-detached homes.

The standalone monthly SAAR was 301 units in December, down from 407 units in November, due to no starts of multi-unit dwellings. Actual starts increased by 35.6 per cent in 2016 when compared to 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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1082194E.pdf