December 2015 Housing Starts in Kingston

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 11, 2016) - Housing starts in the Kingston Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 741 units in December compared to 722 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 in Kingston were trending slightly higher for the month of December driven primarily by single-detached starts which were trending at the highest levels since the beginning of 2015. More ground oriented housing was built in the second part of the year as a result of strengthening employment," said Aris Gianneskis, CMHC's Market Analyst for Kingston. "Overall in 2015, Kingston posted 655 housing starts, a slight decline from 2014, with apartment starts representing the largest share."

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 607 units in December up from 236 in November as more units were supplied to the market for all dwelling types, especially single-detached homes.

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.

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A table and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/KingENG.pdf