March 2015 Housing Starts in Guelph

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 10, 2015) - Housing starts in the Guelph Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 416 units in March compared to 403 units 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 marginal increase in the starts trend in March was due to the increase in ground-oriented starts. No apartment buildings have been started since August, which is not unusual in a market where apartment starts are volatile. Despite a colder than normal winter, actual housing starts for the first quarter increased from the same quarter in 2014. However, March starts continued to trend below the average rate of household formation. Employment and population growth and a tight resale market point to a higher level of starts," said Erica McLerie, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Guelph.

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 417 units in March, up from 363 units in February. Higher single-detached and townhouse starts led to this increase.

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

^[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.

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/1001234e.pdf