May 2015 Housing Starts in Barrie

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - June 8, 2015) - Housing starts in the Barrie Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 945 units in May, up from 882 in April 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 housing starts rose in May for the first time in the last six months. Starts of both singles and row houses pushed up total housing starts. While there were more starts of singles in Innisfil, row houses began to gain ground, both in the City of Barrie and in Innisfil. A limited amount of land and rising home prices spurred an interest in townhouses. This more affordable housing type can offer the same amount of living space as a single-detached home, but at a lower price, "said Abdellah Massaoudi, CMHC's Market Analyst for Barrie.

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 1009 units in May, up from 655 in April due to a pick-up in starts of both single-detached homes and row houses.

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.

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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1011269e.pdf