September 2014 Housing Starts in Quebec

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Oct. 8, 2014) - Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 32,704 units in September, compared to 32,111 units in August, 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.

"In September, like in certain other months during the year, the start of construction on some large residential projects brought about an increase in the rate of housing starts. This phenomenon therefore supported strong residential construction in the province, especially in Montréal, Québec and Trois-Rivières. The rise in the pace of multi-unit housing starts more than offset the slowdown in single-detached home construction. The relatively significant supply that persists on the resale market, combined with the weak employment growth, continues to limit homebuilding overall," said Kevin Hughes, CMHC's Senior 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, 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 34,767 units in September, up from 29,807 in August.

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 were maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca.

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/971860e.pdf