VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec. 8, 2016) - Housing starts in British Columbia's urban areas were trending at 39,309 units in November compared to 37,757 units in October, 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.

"A surge in apartment construction underpinned an upward trend in housing starts in November after a slight decline in October," said Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Principal Analyst. "Strong demand for apartment condominium and rental units in a number of centres across the province is pushing the trend higher."

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 for urban starts in British Columbia was 44,019 units in November, compared to 25,049 units in October. Apartment starts in November off-set declines in townhome and single-detached starts.

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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Tables and a graph are available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1079337eTablesGraph.pdf