June 2016 Housing Starts in Montreal

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - July 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Montréal census metropolitan area (CMA) were trending at 15,087 units in June compared to 16,294 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.

"The slowdown in the housing starts trend observed in June in the Montréal CMA was mainly due to a decrease in rental housing construction", said Francis Cortellino, CMHC's Principal for Montréal. "This pause should be temporary, though, as we are still expecting activity in this market segment to be relatively strong this year construction".

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 17,003 units in June, down from 23,044 in May. The significant variation in the annual rate was due to the multiple-unit housing segment, where ups and downs are often observed from one month to the next.

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/963a.pdf