April 2016 Housing Starts in Montreal

MONTRÉAL, QUÉBEC--(Marketwired - May 9, 2016) - Housing starts in the Montréal census metropolitan area (CMA) were trending at 15,570 units in April compared to 17,215 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.

"While housing starts trended lower in April, rental apartment construction remained relatively strong. As the condo market runs out of steam, some builders are turning their attention to the rental market. Relatively low vacancy in newer rental buildings supports the idea that there is demand for more modern units," said Geneviève Lapointe, CMHC Principal Market Analyst in Montréal.

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 12,300 units in April, up from 10,857 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/1053626e.pdf