Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 28,391 units in March, compared to 29,870 units in February, 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 lower pace of housing starts in March is observable in both single detached and multi-family home categories,”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 26,116 units in March, up from 22,549 in February. “The faster pace is attributable to the multi-unit category, which is catching up from an exceptionally cold winter,” added Kevin Hughes.