November 2014 Housing Starts in Hamilton CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2014) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 2,903 units in November compared to 3,270 units in October, 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.

"The trend in Hamilton CMA total housing starts declined in November 2014, mostly due to weaker apartment construction. In fact, no apartment starts occurred anywhere in the Hamilton CMA. Meanwhile, townhouse starts were up significantly in November 2014. This month marked the seventh consecutive monthly gain in townhouse starts. A tight resale market, with listings of affordable homes in short supply, is encouraging home buyers to buy new townhouses, which are a more affordable ground-oriented home type," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs.
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 stand-alone monthly SAAR was 3,135 units in November, up from 2,209 units in October. This month's increase in the SAAR measure was mainly due to higher single-detached and townhouse starts. Consequently, year-to-date through November, total housing starts were up 4.8 per cent compared to the same eleven-month period in 2013.


(1) All 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.