New Brunswick Housing Starts Up Slightly in August

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - Sept. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in New Brunswick's urban centres were trending at 1,194 units in August compared to 1,101 in July 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.

"Housing starts have been trending at roughly the same level for the past six months, however the actual number of starts year-to-date is down slightly compared to last year" said Michael Edwards, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Market Analysis Centre. "This is mainly due to fewer apartment starts in the province's three largest urban centres," added Edwards.

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 1,199 units in August, up from 765 in July.

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.

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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1068632e_Tables.pdf