February 2015 Housing Starts in Halifax

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - April 10, 2015) - Housing starts in Halifax, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1,482 units in February compared to 1,901 in January 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 Halifax slowed in February," said Guillaume Neault, Principal, Market Analysis with CMHC's Atlantic Business Centre. "Activity remained weak in both the single-detached and multi-family segments with total starts reaching ten units last month," added Neault. "In the single-detached market, relatively high inventory of available units continued to impact construction activity in February. In the multi-family segment, following significant activity in the final six months of last year, no new apartments were started year-to-date," said Neault.

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 220 units in February, down from 839 in January.

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.

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¹All 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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Tables and graphs are available at the following address: http://file.marketwire.com/release/001277e.pdf