June 2016 Housing Starts in Gatineau

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - July 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Gatineau area were trending at 1,657 units in June, compared to 1,517 in May, 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.

In June, the trend in housing starts in the Gatineau area decreased slightly. "In fact, the small drop was especially attributable to the multi-unit segment and followed the start of construction of a few large projects at the beginning of the year. However, the expected increase in demand, supported by an improvement in employment, will allow the new home market to continue to grow in 2016 and 2017," said Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the Gatineau area.

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, analyzing 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 stand-alone monthly SAAR was 965 units in June, down from 1,706 in May.

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.

(Ce document existe également en français.)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1061957_ENG.pdf