February 2013 Housing Starts in St. John's

ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR--(Marketwire - March 8, 2013) - Housing starts in St. John's, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1,927 units in February, 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 pace of residential construction in St. John's was steady in February," said Chris Janes, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for St. John's. "This pace was attributed to a significant increase in multiple starts recorded during the month," added Janes. "In the single-detached segment of the market, starts were lower," Janes said.

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 2,060 units in February, up from 1,412 in January.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

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1 All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request

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A graph is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMAtabeng.pdf

Preliminary Housing Start Data
February / 2012-2013
St. John's CMA1			February 2012	February 2013
	Actual
		February - Single-Detached	43	32
		February - Multiples	8	81
		February - Total	51	113
		January to February - Single-Detached	101	99
		January to February - Multiples	129	90
		January to February - Total	230	189
			January 2013	February 2013
	SAAR2
		Total	1,412	2,060

Source: CMHC

1Census Metropolitan Area

2Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates

Detailed data available upon request