July 2015 Housing Starts in St. Catharines-Niagara

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 11, 2015) - Housing starts in the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending higher at 1,431 units in July compared to 1,393 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 housing starts increased in July because of a significant increase in townhouse and apartment starts. Wage growth over the last six months has allowed more households to purchase new homes," 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 2,034 in July, up from 1,652 in June. The SAAR went up because of increased new housing starts for all dwelling types with only semi-detached homes decreasing slightly from the previous month. Single-detached homes remained the most popular dwelling type in St. Catharines-Niagara with a few exceptions. In St Catharines City, apartments made up close to half all the starts this month and in Thorold City and Lincoln Town, townhouses dominated.

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/1020871_ENG.pdf