December 2012 Housing Starts in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 9, 2013) - Housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 18,023 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)¹ of housing starts. The stand-alone monthly SAAR was 14,722 units in December, compared to 15,056 units in November.

"Multiple-family starts fuelled growth in new home construction in 2012. However, both single-detached and multiple-family starts were trending lower at the end of the year," said Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Vancouver.

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, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment in some markets, which can be quite variable from one month to the next.

Actual total housing starts in December were 1,187 units with 251 single-detached houses and 936 multiple-family homes. Year-to-date housing starts totalled 19,027, higher than the 17,867 housing starts recorded in the same period of 2011.

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 284 units in December. The standalone monthly SAAR was 128 units in December. Both the trend and December SAAR figures were lower than November levels.

Preliminary Housing Starts data is also available in English and French at the following link: http://www.cmhc.gc.ca/en/hoficlincl/homain/stda/index.cfm

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. 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 informed decisions.

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts and the trend estimate, are seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) - that is, monthly figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. By removing seasonal ups and downs, seasonal adjustment allows for a comparison from one season to the next and from one month to the next. Reporting monthly figures at annual rates indicates the annual level of starts that would be obtained if the monthly pace was maintained for 12 months. This facilitates comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historical annual levels.

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Additional data is available upon request.

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