February 2016 Vancouver Housing Starts Reach Their Highest Level in 25 Years

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - March 8, 2016) - Housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 24,244 units in February compared to 20,825 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.

"With declining inventory of new homes on the market and strong activity in the resale market, developers ramped up housing starts of single-detached and multiple-family homes this month," said Richard Sam, Market Analyst. "The actual monthly number of housing starts in the Vancouver CMA was the highest recorded over the past 25 years," added Sam.

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 was 37,233 units in February, up from 22,213 units in January. Housing starts in single-detached, semi-detached and apartments picked-up in February.

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 1,406 units in February, up from 1,208 units in January due to an increase single-detached and apartment 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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To view the graph and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1045881e.pdf