Rental Housing Construction Supports the New Home Market

QUÉBEC CITY, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Sept. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Québec census metropolitan area (CMA) were trending at 4,741 units in August, compared to 4,998 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.

"In August, the trend in the Québec area remained relatively high as a result of the recent start of construction on several conventional rental housing projects. It appears that this market segment has remained appealing to many developers and investors, given the large inventory of new and existing condominium units for sale. However, it is estimated that the conventional rental housing market is facing a risk of overbuilding, therefore this will have to be monitored closely in the coming months," said Élisabeth Koulouris, CMHC's Principal, Market Analysis, for the Québec CMA.

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, analyzing 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 stand-alone monthly SAAR was 1,948 units in August, down from 5,829 in July. The significant change in the annual rate was due to the multiples segment, which often shows notable variations from one month to the next.

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/1068676e.pdf