December 2015 Housing Starts in the Quebec CMA

QUÉBEC CITY, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Québec census metropolitan area (CMA) were trending at 6,060 units in December, compared to 5,390 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) of housing starts.

"Housing starts trended higher in the Québec area as a result of the many starts of rental housing projects recorded last month. It can be assumed that the particularly mild weather in December helped push up some construction projects," said Élisabeth Koulouris, CMHC's Principal, Market Analysis, for the Québec CMA.

Also, annual results showed a total of 5,442 housing starts in 2015, up 22 per cent compared to 2014. The rental housing segment essentially stimulated residential construction activity. "Inventories of unsold condominiums-which remain high-encouraged the industry to turn to new business niches," added Élisabeth Koulouris.

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 8,693 units in December, up from 4,805 in November. The significant change in the annual rate was due to the multiples segment, which often shows notable variations from one month to the next.

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 information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

For more information, visit our website at www.cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Additional data is available upon request.

(Ce document existe également en français.)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1038913a.pdf