October 2012 Housing Starts in Peterborough

Real Estate — November 8, 2012

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 8, 2012) - Housing starts in Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 433 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 910 units in October, down from 1161 in September.

"Year-to-date starts are now at the same level they were in 2011, owing mostly to a second consecutive month of apartment starts in October. While 2012 has been a slower year for single-detached construction, apartment starts have offset that decline. This year's apartments starts are now more than double the total reached from January to October 2011. All 29 apartment starts in October took place in Peterborough City." said Anthony Passarelli, CMHC's Market Analyst for Peterborough.

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 multiples segment includes apartments, rows and semi-detached homes.

Single-detached starts added 34 actual units in October 2012. Multiple starts totalled 43 actual units in October, up from 34 units reported in October of last year. Year to date total starts have reached 301 actual units with activity more evenly split between both singles and multiple starts than in 2011. Overall, across the sub-markets in the CMA, total starts this year are the same as they were last year.

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.

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.

To view the figures associated with this press release, please visit the following link:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/832794E.pdf

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Contact Information

Market Analysis Contact:
Anthony Passarelli
416-250-3234
apassare@cmhc.ca

Media Contact:
Beth Bailey
416-218-3355
bbailey@cmhc.ca