THUNDER BAY – Business – Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending slightly down from March. With 115 units in April that is down slightly from 118 units 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) 1 of housing starts.
“Seasonally adjusted housing starts in Thunder Bay saw another decline in April. Given the relatively low vacancy rate, three small apartment rental projects did start in the month for a total of 14 units, salvaging an otherwise quiet month that only saw one single-detached start, ” stated Warren Philp, CMHC’s Market Analyst for Thunder Bay.
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 standalone monthly SAAR was 190 units in April, up from 14 in March.
