Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 30,075 units in July, compared to 28,251 units in June, 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 notable rise in the rate of housing starts during the past two months has sustained the upward trend at the provincial level. This acceleration is attributable to the apartment segment, in particular to retirement homes, where construction is rising in anticipation of the imminent acceleration of population aging. These results are in line with our forecast, which calls for a rebound in activity in the second half of the year,” said Francis Cortellino, CMHC Senior Analyst.
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 36,673 units in July, down slightly from 37,887 in June.