Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 31,419 units in July, compared to 31,944 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 trend of housing starts in Quebec dropped due to a slowdown in both the single-detached and apartment market segments,” said Eric Bond, Market Analyst at CMHC.
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 27,344 units in July, down from 33,296 in June.