March 2016 Housing Starts in Hamilton CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 8, 2016) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 2,887 units in March compared to 2,537 units 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.

"The trend in Hamilton CMA total housing starts increased primarily due to a higher number of apartment starts in March compared to the previous month," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs. "The trend in townhouse starts also increased in March. Strong first time homebuyer demand continued to support townhouse construction in Hamilton."

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 3,945 units in March, up from 2,713 units in February. This month's increase in the SAAR measure was mostly due to a higher number of multi-unit housing starts compared to 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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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049913a.pdf