Housing starts in Vancouver fell in October compared with the previous month, reflecting a nationwide decline, according to figures released November 10 by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) trend for new home construction, which is a measure of a six-month moving average of seasonally adjusted annual rates, was 19,544 units in October compared with 20,075 units in September.
“Apartment starts were lower in October, offsetting an increasing trend in construction of all other types of housing including single-detached, duplex and townhomes,” said Robyn Adamache, CMHC’s senior market analyst.
However, she added, “So far this year, the actual number of new homes started [in Vancouver CMA] is slightly above last year’s level.”
The decline in Vancouver was steeper than the nationwide drop-off in new home construction trends in October. The trend measure of housing starts for the whole of Canada was 195,707 units in October compared with 197,763 in September.
“The [nationwide] decrease in the trend reflects a decline, in October, of starts of multi-unit dwellings, including condos,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC chief economist. “Given the elevated level of condominium units under construction, our expectation is that condominium starts will contine to trend lower over the coming months.”
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.
The news comes after the CMHC’s recently released forecast for housing starts in BC for 2015-16, which predicted that new home construction will ease off over the next two years.
