Vancouver Housing Starts Still on the Rise in July

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Aug. 9, 2016) - Housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) were trending at 30,361 units in July compared to 29,933 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) of housing starts.

"Strong demand for new homes in July kept the housing starts trend well above its five-year average," said Robyn Adamache, CMHC Principal Market Analyst for Vancouver. "Nearly six in ten detached homes and almost all apartments were sold on completion, meaning the supply of completed and unsold new homes remains low."

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 24,737 units in July, down from 35,447 units in June due to a pullback in new apartment starts.

Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission CMA were trending at 1,251 units in July, down from 1,399 units in June. Fewer apartment starts accounted for this month's decline in home building.

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 associated with this release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1065264_tables.pdf