Halifax Residential Construction Trends Up in July

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Aug. 9, 2016) - Housing starts in Halifax Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 2,244 units in July compared to 1,928 in June 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.

"Construction activity continued to trend up in July mainly due to single-detached starts," said Guillaume Neault, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for Atlantic Canada. "It is anticipated that multiples starts will accelerate over the next few months as many mid-sized projects are expected to break ground," Neault added.

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 2,435 units in July, down from 3,275 in June.

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/1065306e.pdf.