Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 32,752 units in November, compared to 32,656 units in October, 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 increased pace of housing starts in November in Quebec (measured by the seasonally adjusted annual rate) is attributable to the start of several seniors’ residences in Montréal. The number of units in question was sufficiently strong to push up the provincial rate,” 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 37,110 units in November, up from 32,028 in October.