July 2014 Housing Starts in British Columbia
By Contributor
Housing starts in British Columbia’s urban areas were trending at 25,515 units in July compared to 25,445 in June, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.
“The trend level of housing starts was relatively unchanged in July compared to June across most home types,” said Carol Frketich, CMHC’s BC Regional Economist. “New construction activity in the province remains in line with CMHC’s outlook for the year.”
CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market.
In some situations, analysing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite variable from one month to the next.
The standalone monthly SAAR was 25,633 units in July, compared to 26,625 units in June.
