July 2014 Housing Starts in Hamilton CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 11, 2014) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 3,026 units in July compared to 2,948 units 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)(1) of housing starts.

"The trend in Hamilton CMA total housing starts increased for the fourth consecutive month in July 2014. A tight resale market, with listings of affordable homes in short supply, is putting pressure on home buyers to buy new. Townhouse starts were up for the third consecutive month in July, suggesting that those buying in the affordable price ranges are turning to this more affordable ground-oriented home type in the new home market," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs.

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 2,135 units in July, down from 2,867 units in June. This month's decline in the SAAR measure was mainly due to weaker apartment construction. More specifically, actual apartment starts were 301 units in the first seven months of 2014, down 50 per cent from the same period in 2013.

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.

(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.

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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/961861a.pdf