March 2014 Housing Starts in Prince Edward Island

MONCTON, NEW BRUNSWICK--(Marketwired - April 8, 2014) - Housing starts in Prince Edward Island were trending at 320 units in March compared to 383 in February 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 pace of residential construction on Prince Edward Island slowed last month. Year-to-date total starts are also down, due to a significant decline in apartment construction," said Jason Beaton, Market Analyst for CMHC. "New rental apartment construction has been impacted by a rising vacancy rate due to increased inventory," added Beaton.

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 151 units in March, down from 229 in February.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link:
Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

^[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.

To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/938298E.pdf

Additional data is available upon request.

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