According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) there were 1,555 housing starts in the Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) in January 2012, compared with 1,436 in January 2011.
The increase in new home construction activity in Vancouver was mirrored in the provincial results.
Housing starts in urban areas of the province totalled 2,045 units in January, an 8% increase over January 2011.
Carol Frketich, CMHC’s regional economist, said, “Both single-detached and multiple-family housing starts were above year-ago levels.”
Multiple-family starts made up approximately four-fifths of the housing starts in urban areas of the province and in the Vancouver CMA.
Most were in Vancouver, Burnaby, Nanaimo, Coquitlam, and Surrey.
In the Abbotsford-Mission CMA, 16 housing starts were counted in the first month of 2012, down from 35 housing starts in January 2011.
Jennifer Harrison
@JHarrisonBIV