January 2015 Housing Starts in British Columbia

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 9, 2015) - Housing starts in British Columbia's urban areas¹ were trending at 27,821 units in January 2015 compared to 27,981 in December 2014, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR)² of housing starts.

"The trend level of housing starts began the year at a level similar to the previous five months reflecting generally balanced resale market conditions," said Carol Frketich, CMHC's BC Regional Economist. "Multiple-family housing starts accounted for the majority of new homes beginning construction in January."

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 25,067 units in January 2015, compared to 29,165 units in December 2014.

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

¹ Urban areas are centres with populations of 10,000 or more people.

² 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.

Additional data is available upon request.

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To view the graph and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/991095e.pdf.