July 2015 Housing Starts in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Aug. 11, 2015) - Housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 21,874 units compared to 20,080 units in June, 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.

"Strong demand for all types of homes translated into higher levels of housing starts in July", said Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Principal Market Analyst for Vancouver. "The trend measure of single-detached house construction edged higher while apartment and townhome building registered more substantial increases. These trends point to robust demand for homes across the price spectrum."

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 27,359 units in July, up from 25,360 units in June. This increase was driven by a pick-up in apartment and town home starts, which offset a small decline in single-detached home starts.

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 652 units in July, up from 553 units in June.

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.

Follow CMHC on Twitter @CMHC_ca

Additional data is available upon request.

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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.

Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1020816_Tables.pdf