Housing starts in the St. Catharines-Niagara Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending higher at 1,467 units in October compared to 1,420 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.
“Total housing starts continued trending up as starts of singles and semis kept rising and starts of rows held their own. Employment growth for move-up buyer households, coupled with persistent low mortgage rates, has supported the gradual increase in housing starts in St. Catharines-Niagara. New construction remained centred in Niagara Falls City and Niagara-on-the-lake Town.,” said Edgard Navarrete, CMHC`s market analyst.
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 SAAR of total housing starts was 1,431 in October, down from 1,702 in September.
The SAAR peaked in September following several months where total starts were rising mainly due to increased single-detached starts. Total starts have decreased in October due to some moderation in single-detached starts. Single-detached starts are still above average for 2014.
Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link:
Preliminary Housing Starts Tables
