January 2015 Housing Starts in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo

TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwired – Feb. 9, 2015) – Housing starts in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 5,342 units in January compared to 5,474 units in December, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)1 of housing starts.

“Starts trended down in January, as starts for all housing types were lower. A number of apartment projects in the past few months pulled up the trend to a level that could not be sustained over the long run. However, employment and population growth in 2014 will keep demand relatively strong,” said Erica McLerie, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst for the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo CMA.

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 SAAR of total housing starts was 2,287 units in January, down from 4,722 units in December. The decrease in the SAAR was due to fewer townhouse and apartment starts in January compared to December. Actual starts in January were higher than in the same month last year.

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.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

1All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) – that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request.

(Ce document existe également en français)

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: https://media3.marketwire.com/docs/991167a.pdf

Market Analysis Contact:
Erica McLerie
416-218-3318
emclerie@cmhc.ca

Media Contact:
Beth Bailey
416-218-3355
bbailey@cmhc.ca

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