New home starts in metropolitan Vancouver have increased 76% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period last year, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
There have been 3,198 new home starts in the Vancouver census metropolitan area this year compared with 1,819 in 2009.
New single-detached homes accounted for the largest increase where the total reached 1,063 compared with 285 for the same period last year.
"We continued to see strength in single detached new home construction in March, particularly in Surrey and Vancouver," said Robyn Adamache, CMHC's senior market analyst.
The Tri-Cities, Maple Ridge and Surrey witnessed the highest rate of year-over-year growth where housing starts increased more than 200%.
Yet urban home starts in B.C. totalled 22,100 units, seasonally adjusted at annual rates in March, compared with 26,400 in February.
That dip is on par with Canada as a whole where March housing starts reached 175,200 units compared with 182,800 the month before.