September 2012 Housing Starts in Quebec

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwire - Oct. 9, 2012) - Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 44,626 units in September, 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 standalone monthly SAAR was 42,515 units in September, slightly up from 41,950 in August.

"Considering the recent rate of construction and the course that the resale market has taken, the pace of housing starts will slow down during the next quarters in Quebec. So far in 2012, the total number of housing starts is in-line with our forecast," said Kevin Hughes, CMHC's Regional Economist for Quebec.

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.

Single-detached starts amounted to 896 actual units in September 2012. Multiple starts totalled 2,766 actual units in September. Between January and September, total starts have reached 30,067 compared to 30,420 during the same period last year.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

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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Preliminary Housing Start Data
September / 2011-2012
Province, Centres 10,000+			September 2011	September 2012
	Actual, urban centres1
		September - Single-Detached	1,026	896
		September - Multiples	3,590	2,766
		September - Total	4,616	3,662
		January to September - Single-Detached	8,775	8,205
		January to September - Multiples	21,645	21,862
		January to September - Total	30,420	30,067
			August 2012	September 2012
	SAAR2, urban centres1
		Total	41,950	42,515

Source: CMHC

1 Urban centres with a population of 10,000 and over.

2 Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates

Detailed data available upon request.

A graphic is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMHCa1009.pdf