THUNDER BAY – REAL ESTATE – Housing starts in Thunder Bay, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 291 units in September, up from 226 units in August 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 momentum of the past several months continued in September with both the trend and the SAAR for housing starts rising. While economic underpinnings do not suggest further growth in housing demand, the current momentum will keep the trend relatively high for the next few months,” said Warren Philp, CMHC Market Analyst for the Thunder Bay CMA.
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 409 units in September up from 291 units in August. This increase in the monthly SAAR was due to the combined strength of single-detached and multi-family housing in September.
