January 2017 Housing Starts in Thunder Bay

THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 8, 2017) - The housing starts trend in the Thunder Bay Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was slightly higher at 202 units in January compared to 189 units in December 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 small increase in total housing starts trend in January was due to the slightly higher singles starts trend," said Warren Philp, CMHC Market Analyst for the Thunder Bay CMA. "The month, traditionally slower, may have been somewhat more active because of the unseasonably warm weather."

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, analysing 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 standalone monthly SAAR of total housing starts was 258 units in January, up from 143 units in December, as stronger singles starts offset weaker multiples starts.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link:
Preliminary Housing Starts Tables

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

For more information, visit our website at www.cmhc.ca or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Additional data is available upon request. 

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To view the graph and tables associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1085140A_Tables_Graph.pdf