June 2012 Housing Starts Increase in the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 10, 2012) - The number of housing starts in the Vancouver CMA was trending at 20,033 units through 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 total starts. The stand alone monthly seasonally adjusted rate was 26,600 units in June, up from 20,000 in May.

For some markets, 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. Analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets in some situations, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite volatile from one month to the next.

"Overall, apartment housing starts were strong in June, particularly in the cities of Vancouver, Coquitlam, and Langley," noted Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst. "The majority of the 1,696 apartment units started in the region were condominium apartments. There were also 226 rental apartment units and 250 homes with secondary suites started in June."

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.

Preliminary housing starts numbers are summarized in the attached tables:

To view the graph and table accompanying this press release, please click on the following links:

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/0709HScmhc.jpg

http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/0709CMA.pdf

(Ce document existe également en français)

¹ All starts figures in this release, other than actual starts, 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 makes it possible to highlight the fundamental trends of a series. 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.