January 2012 Housing Starts in Vancouver and British Columbia

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 8, 2012) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports that there were 1,555 housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in January 2012, compared to 1,436 starts in January 2011.

The increase in new home construction activity in Vancouver was mirrored in the provincial results. Housing starts in urban¹ areas of the province totalled 2,045 units in January, an increase of eight per cent compared to January 2011.

"Both single-detached and multiple-family housing starts were above year-ago levels," noted Carol Frketich, CMHC's Regional Economist. Multiple-family starts made up approximately four-fifths of the housing starts in urban areas of the province and in the Vancouver CMA. Most of these home starts were in the cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, Nanaimo, Coquitlam, and Surrey.

In the Abbotsford-Mission CMA, 16 housing starts were counted in the first month of 2012, down from 35 housing starts recorded during the same month a year ago.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of high 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.

For more information, visit www.cmhc.ca or call 1-800-668-2642. CMHC Market Analysis standard reports are also available free for download at www.cmhc.ca/housingmarketinformation.

To view the map and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cmhc208i.pdf.

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¹ Urban areas are areas of the province with a population of 10,000 or more.