CMHC: August 2011 Housing Starts in Vancouver and Abbotsford

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Sept. 9, 2011) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports that there were 1,467 housing starts in August 2011 in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), maintaining levels recorded in the same month last year. So far in 2011, 11,477 units have started construction, an increase of 21 per cent over the same period last year.

"Multi-family starts represented just over three quarters of all housing starts so far this year, representing a slight increase from the historical ten year average," noted Carol Frketich, CMHC's BC Regional Economist. "Most multi-family starts were located in the cities of Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby, and Coquitlam."

The Abbotsford CMA reported 38 housing starts in August, down slightly from the 40 starts recorded in August 2010. Multi-family construction represented almost half of housing starts during the January to August period, compared to about one-fifth during the same period the previous year.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of total housing starts moderated to 184,700 units in August, from 204,500 units in July. In British Columbia, August's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban housing starts moved lower to 23,800 units from 28,100 units in the previous month.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on 65 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.

Preliminary housing starts numbers are summarized in the attached tables. To view the map and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/cmhc909a.pdf.

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¹ Seasonally-adjusted annual rates (SAARs) are monthly housing starts figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. This adjustment facilitates the comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historic annual levels.