Housing starts in Quebec were trending at 32,527 units in October, compared to 32,713 units in September, 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 pace of housing starts in recorded in October is similar to the trend of the past six months. We expect the rate to remain stable for the remainder of the year,” 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 31,805 units in October, down from 34,811 in September.