TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in the Barrie Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 1378 units in December, up from 1178 in November 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.

"2014 was a strong year for residential construction in the Barrie CMA. Apartment starts set a record and together with rows starts exceeded single-detached starts for the first time since 1982. Total starts reached a high not seen since 2008. On monthly basis, apartment and row starts were unusually high in December, which increased significantly the total for the year. While migration and employment supported this increase, the scarcity of land has been a major factor causing the shift to apartments and rows in this year, specifically in the City of Barrie," 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 2547 units in December, up significantly from 635 in November.

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 advice 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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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/986787e.pdf