Housing starts in Québec's urban centres were trending at 31,256 units in January, compared to 32,077 in December, 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.
''The current rate of housing starts is in Quebec is more in sync with the demographic potential than it was in recent years. It can be seen as a benchmark for the next few years'' said Kevin Hughes, CMHC Regional Economist for the province of Quebec.
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.
The stand-alone monthly SAAR was 26,711 units in January, down from 33,909 in December.