December 2013 Housing Starts in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 9, 2014) - Housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 19,881 units in December compared to 20,009 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)¹ of housing starts.

"Housing starts trended slightly lower in December and trended higher overall during the second half of 2013 as builders increased construction on both single-detached and multiple-family homes in the CMA," said Lance Jakubec, 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 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 in the Vancouver CMA was 21,820 units in December, compared to 17,876 in November.

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 694 units in December, compared to 740 units in November. The trend measure for total housing starts has moved downward due to lower multiple-family home starts.

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

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.

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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.

This release is also available at www.cmhc.ca.

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/920975.pdf