Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: June 2011 Housing Starts in Vancouver and Abbotsford

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 11, 2011) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports that in June there were 1,344 housing starts across the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), an increase compared to the same month a year ago. During the first half of the year, construction started on 8,472 new homes, an increase of 23 per cent compared to the same period last year.

"Homebuilders continued to favour multiple family dwelling types in June," noted Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst. "So far this year, multi family building has been focused in areas such as the City of Vancouver, Surrey, and Richmond due to their proximity to amenities, major transportation routes and transit systems." Apartment units were the most common type of multiple family dwelling, making up more than half of June's housing starts.

The Abbotsford CMA reported 38 housing starts in June, up from 32 housing starts recorded for the same month a year ago.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of total housing starts in June increased to 197,400 units from 194,100 units in May. In British Columbia, June's seasonally adjusted rate of urban housing starts moved lower to 21,200 units from 29,300 units in May.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making vital decisions.

For more information, and to download CMHC's housing reports, please visit CMHC's website at www.cmhc.ca/housingmarketinformation or call 1-800-668-2642.

Preliminary housing starts numbers are summarized in the attached tables. To view the map and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cmhc711tablesMap.pdf

(Ce document existe également en français)

¹ Seasonally-adjusted annual rates (SAARs) are monthly housing starts figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. This adjustment facilitates the comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historic annual levels.