December 2014 Housing Starts in Sudbury

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in the Greater Sudbury, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 383 units in December compared to 371 units 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.

"Housing starts remained relatively stable compared to the previous month. The lower apartment starts were partly offset by stronger semi-detached and townhouse construction. Home builders are gradually diversifying into ground-oriented higher density construction to offset the higher cost of building single-detached homes. A declining unemployment rate has helped sustain the housing market in the Greater Sudbury CMA, particularly the more affordable housing units," said Aris Gianneskis, CMHC's Market Analyst for Sudbury.

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 276 units in December, down from 553 in November; this is attributed almost entirely to a drop in the townhome and single detached starts. In any given month, the SAAR tends to be more volatile than the six-month trend.

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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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/986889en.pdf