New Record Set for Month of March

(April 6, 2016 – Hamilton, Ontario)  The REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) reported 1,482 sales were processed through the RAHB Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) System in March, a new record for the month.  Sales were 6.8 per cent higher than the same month last year and 15.2 per cent higher than the 10-year average. 

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March 2016 Housing Starts in Hamilton CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 8, 2016) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending up at 2,887 units in March compared to 2,537 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 Hamilton CMA total housing starts increased primarily due to a higher number of apartment starts in March compared to the previous month," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs. "The trend in townhouse starts also increased in March. Strong first time homebuyer demand continued to support townhouse construction in Hamilton." 

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 3,945 units in March, up from 2,713 units in February. This month's increase in the SAAR measure was mostly due to a higher number of multi-unit housing starts compared to February.