February 2016 Housing Starts in St. Catharines-Niagara

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending higher at 1,953 units in February compared to 1,925 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) of housing starts.

"The trend in total housing starts increased in February after moderating in each of the previous four months. A tight existing homes market encouraged buyers to consider options in the new homes market. Furthermore, new home completions trended up, which freed up resources and allowed developers to commence additional new projects," said Edgard Navarrete, CMHC's Market Analyst for St. Catharines-Niagara.

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 SAAR of total housing starts was 1,584 in February up from 1,462 in January. Increased single-detached and semi-detached home starts lifted the SAAR. There were no apartment starts in February.

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/CMHC_1045949e.pdf