March 2016 Housing Starts in the Saguenay CMA

QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - April 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Saguenay census metropolitan area (CMA) were trending at 279 units in March, compared to 276 in February, 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.

"For a third consecutive month, the housing starts trend remained stable and rather weak from an historical standpoint in the Saguenay area. This situation was not surprising given the significant supply of existing homes for sale or rent in the area and employment showing signs of weakness," said Élisabeth Koulouris, Principal, Market Analysis, at CMHC.

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 288 units in March, down from 322 in February.

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