Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation: December Housing Starts in the Vancouver CMA

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Jan. 10, 2012) - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports that there were 17,867 housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in 2011, compared to 15,217 starts in 2010.

"Multiple-family starts fuelled growth in new home construction in 2011," noted Robyn Adamache, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst. "There were 14,181 multiple unit housing starts in 2011 compared to 10,684 units a year ago. Solid market trends and a more positive economic outlook compared to a year ago have provided the impetus for developers to undertake larger projects in 2011." Single detached housing starts declined to 3,686 units in 2011 compared to 4,533 units in 2010.

There were 1,199 housing starts in December 2011 in the Vancouver CMA, a decrease compared to the same month a year ago.

The Abbotsford CMA reported 537 housing starts in 2011, compared to 516 housing starts in 2010. New home construction totalled 24 housing starts in December 2011, 18 of which were single-detached homes.

As Canada's national housing agency, CMHC draws on more than 65 years of experience to help Canadians access a variety of high quality, environmentally sustainable and affordable housing solutions. 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 informed 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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To view the map and tables accompanying this press release please click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/CMHC0110b.pdf