July 2015 Housing Starts in New Brunswick

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Aug. 11, 2015) - Housing starts in New Brunswick's urban centres were trending at 987 units in July compared to 931 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.

"Housing starts in New Brunswick's urban centres trended higher in July, with modest increases reported in both the singles and multiples segments of the market," said Sarena Teakles, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Market Analysis Centre. "Multiples construction activity in Moncton has been weak due to higher vacancy rates, while fewer singles starts were recorded in Fredericton due to elevated competition from a well-supplied resale market," she 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 1,773 units in July, up from 1,690 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 advice to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

Additional data is available upon request.

(Ce document existe également en français)

A graph and tables are available at the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1020935e.pdf.

(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.