A 21% year-over-year increase in April housing starts for multiple-family has offset a drop in single detached housing starts in the Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) reported this morning.
The increase of 1,329 units amounts to a 5% increase.
“We’re starting to see more multiple family starts again and we have seen a bit of a decline in terms of single-detached home starts,” CMHC senior market analyst Robyn Adamache said.
She noted, however, that the drop in single-family units compares with a strong 2010 in that market area.
The report noted that North Vancouver District and Burnaby are leading the increases on the multiple-family front, together representing more than two-thirds of the starts in that market in April.
In Vancouver, housing starts are down to 116 from 169 for April, with multiple-family units dropping by more than half to 76 units from 130 a year ago. Year to date, Vancouver’s housing starts are down to 1,108 from 1,165, led by a decrease in multiple-family housing starts.
In Surrey, housing starts were down to 240 from 419 year over year in April, with a notable drop in single-detached units. Year to date, Surrey’s housing starts have dropped with 1,084 from 1,236, with single-detached starts plummeting to 276 from 741.
Across the Vancouver CMA, year to date, housing starts are up 16% to 5,137, compared to 4,442 for the same period last year. Housing starts are also up 16% to 188 units in Abbotsford CMA and down 69% to 86 units in Chilliwack census area.