British Columbia Housing Starts Climbed Higher in July

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Aug. 9, 2016) - Housing starts in British Columbia's urban areas were trending at 43,143 units in July compared to 41,485 units in June, 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 trend measure of housing starts climbed even higher in July as the residential construction industry responded to ongoing strong demand for housing in the province," said Carol Frketich, CMHC's BC Regional Economist. "Despite the record pace of housing starts, new residential properties are being absorbed (sold) at a faster pace than completions, driving the inventory of new completed and unsold (unabsorbed) homes to very low levels."

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 for urban starts in British Columbia was 41,050 units in July, compared to 48,022 units in June. The July decrease was mainly the result of a pullback in apartment starts, partly offset by an increase in single-detached and town home 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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