VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 8, 2011) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports that housing starts across the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in January increased compared to the same month a year ago, totalling 1,436 homes.

Multiple family home starts made up over 85 per cent of the housing starts in the Vancouver CMA. Most of these home starts were in Vancouver City, followed by Surrey and Burnaby. "Multiple family projects that were planned by developers during the last year and a half are beginning to break ground in 2011. We expect to see a number of multiple family projects begin construction throughout the various centres in the CMA in 2011," noted Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst.

In the Abbotsford CMA, there were 35 housing starts counted during the first month of 2011, compared to 26 housing starts during the same period twelve months prior.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts increased marginally to 170,400 units in January, from 169,000 units in December. In British Columbia, January's seasonally adjusted rate of urban housing starts moved lower to 25,700 units from 27,900 units in December.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 60 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. 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 vital decisions.

For more information, and to download CMHC's housing reports, please visit CMHC's website at www.cmhc.ca/housingmarketinformation or call 1-800-668-2642.

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Effective January 2011, data includes market housing on First Nations reserve lands in urban areas.

To view the map and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cmhc28.pdf