British Columbia Housing Starts Decline

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 8, 2017) - Housing starts in British Columbia's urban areas were trending at 35,683 units in January compared to 37,614 units in December, 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.

"Both single-detached and multi-family housing starts declined in January," said Christina Butchart, CMHC's Regional Economist. "While the pace of housing starts has slowed in recent months, the number of units under construction in BC remains high."

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 26,308 units in January, compared to 39,011 units in December. Fewer single-detached and apartment starts accounted for the majority of the decline.

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/1085133i.pdf