November 2015 Housing Starts in Barrie

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2015) - Housing starts in the Barrie Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1,371 units in November, up from 1,181 in October, 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 of housing starts increased in November. The trend for single-detached starts strengthened, due in large part to a high number of starts in the township of Springwater. While employment growth in the Barrie CMA and migrants from the Greater Toronto Area continued to support housing demand, the scarcity of land in the City of Barrie limits the number of starts in the City and encourages residential construction to occur outside of the City boundaries," 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 2,163 units in November, down from the pick of 3,421 in October. This decrease is mainly due to the volatility of apartment starts. In November there were no apartment starts, while in October the number was exceptionally high. The decline in apartment starts was partially offset by the increase in single-detached starts.

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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1035903.pdf