THUNDER BAY – BUSINESS – Housing starts in Thunder Bay Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 153 units in May, unchanged from April 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.
“Total housing starts have been trending lower for five months until the levelling in May, mainly due to weaker multiple-unit housing starts which include semi-detached homes, townhouses and apartments. Flat employment and balanced conditions in the resale market caused housing starts to slow earlier in the year,” concluded 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 244 units in May up from 2 units in April due to average levels of single-detached and multiple-unit housing starts.
Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables
