Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 32,051 units in June, compared to 32,658 units in May, 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 has remained relatively stable since March, be it in the singledetached or multi-unit market segment. Thus far, the moderate rate of new home construction is in line with our forecasts,” said Kevin Hughes, CMHC’s Senior Economist for 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 33,453 units in June, down from 34,136 in May.