Vancouver Housing Starts Set Record Year

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 10, 2017) - Housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 25,980 units in December compared to 27,455 units in November, 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.

"Total housing starts trended lower in December, but were in line with the monthly average for 2016," said Robyn Adamache, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for Vancouver, "Starts in 2016 set a new record for the region that was bolstered by strong rental construction in the cities of Vancouver, New Westminster and Surrey."

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 was 26,477 units in December, down from 31,901 units in November. The decrease in the SAAR for Vancouver was concentrated in apartment starts, which fell back from a strong November.

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 889 units in December, down from 970 units in November. This downward trend was broad-based across all home types.

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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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1082167a.pdf