THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – The cold weather through February put a small dent in Housing Starts in Thunder Bay.
Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 210 units in February down from 243 units in January 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.
“February’s decrease in the housing starts trend in Thunder Bay followed January’s softening. The two consecutive declines have now clearly reversed the strengthening trend witnessed in the final eight months of 2014. No starts in February helped to moderate the trend. A low February figure is not uncommon given difficult winter construction conditions present in Northwestern Ontario,” commented Warren Philp, CMHC Market Analyst.
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 19 units in February down from 77 units in January.
