March 2015 Housing Starts in Peterborough

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 10, 2015) - Housing starts in the Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at an annual rate of 288 units in March compared to 283 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 trend in total starts has been stable for nearly a year, but in the last three months has been gradually edging up. There were only three single-detached and no multi-unit starts last month, which is not unusual for the month of March. Nevertheless, steady employment and low mortgage rates remain supportive of new housing demand," said Olga Golozub, CMHC's Market Analyst for Peterborough.

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 multi-unit segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.

The more volatile SAAR measure of total housing starts was 194 units in March, down from 348 in February due to starts decline for all dwelling types.

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

¹All 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.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1001259a.pdf