Housing starts in Metro Vancouver slowed in September, with condo-apartment construction falling after its August peak but remaining comparatively strong, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report released October 8.
Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) housing starts were trending at 21,459 units overall in September compared with 22,419 units in August. The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.
“While the trend of single-detached housing starts was steady, multiple-family starts trended lower after peaking in August,” said Richard Sam, CMHC’s principal market analyst for Vancouver.
“Despite the lower trend, firm buyer demand has multiple-family starts trending higher in September compared to the beginning of the year.”
Year-to-date, actual housing starts in Vancouver were four per cent higher than last year’s levels.
Housing starts in the Abbotsford-Mission Census Metropolitan Area were trending at 833 units in September, a considerable rise from 584 units in August. The CMHC report said that an increase in condominium starts moved the trend higher in this region.
Across Canada, the trend measure of housing starts was 202,506 units in September compared with 195,804 in August.
Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, said, “The trend in housing starts is at its highest point since January 2013, as a result of the launch of some major rental housing projects as well as continued strength in condominium construction.
“As a result, trend activity is now above the projected annual pace of around 190,000 new households. This underscores the continuing need for inventory management to minimize the number of completed but unsold units.”
CMHC said it uses six-month moving averages to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. In some situations, said the CMHC, analyzing only the monthly seasonally adjusted data can be misleading in some markets, as they can be variable from one month to the next.
