March 2016 Housing Starts in Brantford CMA


TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 8, 2016) - Housing starts in Brantford, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 672 units in March compared to 710 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 Brantford CMA total housing starts has decreased for three consecutive months, after having been pulled up by an unusually high number of condominium apartment starts in December," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for the Hamilton and Brantford CMAs. "The trend was down for all dwelling types, suggesting that housing starts are reverting to the long-run average level."

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 438 units in March, up from 359 units in February. March's increase in the SAAR measure was completely due to a higher number of single-detached housing starts compared to the previous month. However, in the year-to-date ending in March 2016, single-detached housing starts were down 8.5 per cent compared to the first three months in 2015.

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/1049914e.pdf

Contact Information:

Media Contact:
Angelina Ritacco
416-218-3320
aritacco@cmhc.ca