October 2012 Housing Starts in St. John's

Construction/Building — November 8, 2012

ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND--(Marketwire - Nov. 8, 2012) - Housing starts in St. John's, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 2,260 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) ¹ of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 1,670 units in October, down from 2,122 in September.

"After ten months, multi-family starts have risen substantially from the previous year, contributing to the overall increase in total new home construction activity throughout the St. John's area. Favourable mortgage rates, income and employment growth, and positive migration flows have supported housing demand in 2012," said Chris Janes, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for St. John's.

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, analyzing 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.

Single-detached starts added 104 actual units in October compared to 111 units a year ago. Multiple starts totalled 42 actual units in October versus 29 units in October of last year. Year-to-date total starts have reached 1,776 actual units, with 1,069 singles and 707 multiples. Overall, total starts this year remain 12 per cent ahead of last year's pace.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making informed decisions.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

Additional data is available upon request

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A table is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMHtab1108.pdf

Preliminary Housing Start Data
October / 2011-2012
St. John's, CMA¹			October 2011	October 2012
	Actual
		October - Single-Detached	111	104
		October - Multiples	29	42
		October - Total	140	146
		January to October - Single Detached	1,070	1,069
		January to October - Multiples	515	707
		January to October - Total	1,585	1,776
			September 2012	October 2012
	SAAR²
		Total	2,122	1,670

Source: CMHC

¹ Census Metropolitan Area

² Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates

Detailed data available upon request.

Contact Information

Market Analysis Contact:
Chris Janes
709-772-2403
Cell: 709-743-4636
cjanes@cmhc.ca

Media Contact:
Caroline Arsenault
902-426-8127
Cell: 902-452-4448
cmarsena@cmhc.ca