ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR--(Marketwired - May 9, 2016) - Housing starts in St. John's, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 768 units in April compared to 835 in March 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 measure in housing starts continued lower to the end April in the St. John's area. Actual houses started for the month, however, were higher than April 2015, with 29 single-detached housing starts versus nine a year ago and eight multiple housing starts compared to none during April 2015. For the all-important single-detached segment, there have been 105 starts in 2016 versus 87 starts during the same period last year. "Despite a lack of economic growth, mostly due to lower oil prices, single-detached new home construction activity is ahead of last year's pace so far in 2016," said Chris Janes, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Market Analysis Centre.

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 standalone monthly SAAR was 607 units in April compared to 341 in March.

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/CMHC-01.pdf