July 2016 Housing Starts in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 9, 2016) - Housing starts in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 3,790 units in July compared to 2,841 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) of housing starts.

"Total housing starts trended higher in July as the increase occurred among all dwelling types. Starts are trending at a level consistent with demographic demand," said Erica McLerie, Senior Market Analyst at CMHC. "Strong demand for ownership housing due to low interest rates, job growth and in-migration coupled with a very tight resale market meant more households were choosing to purchase a new home."

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 7,571 units in July, up from 4,402 units in June. The increase in the SAAR measure was primarily due to a higher number of apartment starts. Consequently, actual total housing starts for the first seven months of 2016 reached 2,082 units, up 24 per cent compared to the same period in 2015.

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/1065231A_tables.pdf