Dec 9 2014
Housing starts in New Brunswick were trending at 2,292 units in November compared to 2,184 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) of housing starts.
"Increased rental market construction activity in the third quarter, particularly in Moncton, continued to push the provincial trend higher in November," said Claude Gautreau, Senior Market Analyst with CMHC's Atlantic Business Centre. "Despite the rising trend, actual housing starts continue to lag last year's numbers, due largely to declines in housing starts in Fredericton," added Gautreau.
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 1,697 units in November, down from 1,878 in October.