July 2015 Housing Starts in Brantford CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 11, 2015) - Housing starts in Brantford, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 870 units in July compared to 538 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 Brantford CMA total housing starts was up in July 2015, entirely due to a higher number of multi-unit housing starts, many of which were apartments intended for the private rental market. The new units come after several years in which rental supply has been declining, leading to a tighter rental market. CMHC's spring 2015 Rental Market Report (Ontario highlights) showed that Brantford's average apartment vacancy rate dropped to 1.8 per cent in April 2015, from 4.4 per cent in April 2014. Meanwhile, strong employment growth among the 25 to 44 age group continued to support the demand for townhouses. This age group has a higher concentration of first-time buyers, who tend to be more price-sensitive than other buyers. New townhouses are generally more affordable than new single-detached dwellings. The trend in single-detached housing starts was relatively flat in July," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the 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 2,341 units in July, up from 419 units in June. This month's spike in the SAAR measure was mainly due to an unusually high number of rental apartments started in the City of Brantford, marking the second highest monthly apartment starts on record. The highest monthly apartment starts was recorded in June 1989 with 164 units.

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.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

Additional data is available upon request.

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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.

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1020863_ENG.pdf