Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: July Housing Starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 9, 2011) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports July housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) increased compared to the same month a year ago, totalling 1,538 homes. Most of these home starts were in Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, and Vancouver City.

"The focus of new residential starts remains on multi-family construction, especially apartment condominiums," noted Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst. "In the first seven months of this year, 5,903 apartment starts were recorded, compared to 3,882 during the same period last year. A pick up in condominium sales as well as stable economic conditions gave developers the impetus to undertake such projects."

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate¹ of total housing starts increased to 205,100 units in July, from 196,600 units in June. In British Columbia, July's seasonally adjusted rate of urban housing starts moved higher to 28,200 units from 21,200 units in the previous month.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable homes. CMHC also provides reliable, impartial and up-to-date housing market reports, analysis and knowledge to support and assist consumers and the housing industry in making vital decisions.

For more information, and to download CMHC's housing reports, please visit CMHC's website at www.cmhc.ca/housingmarketinformation or call 1-800-668-2642.

Preliminary housing starts numbers are summarized in the attached tables.

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¹ Seasonally-adjusted annual rates (SAARs) are monthly housing starts figures adjusted to remove normal seasonal variation and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels. This adjustment facilitates the comparison of the current pace of activity to annual forecasts as well as to historic annual levels.

To view the tables and map accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/0809CMHC.pdf