February 2016 Housing Starts Surge in British Columbia

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - March 8, 2016) - Housing starts in British Columbia's urban areas were trending at 34,087 units in February compared to 29,918 units in January, 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.

"Apartment and townhome starts picked up the pace in February as more condominium and rental units got underway," said Carol Frketich, CMHC's BC Regional Economist. "The increase in multiple-family starts was concentrated in the Vancouver CMA, with large projects recorded in Richmond, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Vancouver City." "Other large urban centres including Kelowna, Victoria, Abbotsford-Mission, Kamloops and Nanaimo recorded a higher number of starts in February compared to a year earlier," she added.

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 50,780 units in February, compared to 31,633 units in January.

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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To view the graph and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1045875e.pdf