November 2016 Housing Starts in Hamilton CMA

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending down at 2,788 units in November compared to 2,868 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) of housing starts.

"The trend in Hamilton CMA total housing starts was down due to fewer multi-unit housing starts in November 2016 compared to the previous month. The trend in single-detached starts remained practically unchanged in November," said Abdul Kargbo, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Hamilton and Brantford CMAs. "The trend for townhouse starts declined slightly in November following a spike in the previous month. Despite the decline, the trend for townhouse starts was nearly double what it had been at the beginning of the year, reflecting strong first-time buyer demand."

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 1,868 units in November, down from 3,207 units in October. Similar to the trend measure, the November decrease in the SAAR measure was entirely due to fewer multi-unit housing starts compared to the previous month.