Urban B.C. housing starts rose 39 per cent in August, but the year-over-year picture remained weaker and a large share of homes are still under construction.
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Housing starts in B.C. increased in August, according to figures reported by chief economist Bryan Yu.
Yu said urban B.C. housing starts rose 39 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 39,715 units after three consecutive monthly declines.
The August increase was driven by multi-family starts, which rose 44.6 per cent, while single-family starts fell 1.7 per cent.
Despite the monthly rise, Yu said housing starts fluctuate month to month and that the six-month moving average remained subdued.
On a year-over-year basis, Yu reported that housing starts in urban centres fell 7.6 per cent and were down 9.7 per cent year-to-date.
He said multi-family and single-family starts declined at a similar pace during the first eight months of the year.
Within multi-family housing, Yu reported that the year-to-date decline was driven by apartment starts, which were down 13.6 per cent; he said semi-detached starts rose 30.4 per cent and row housing starts increased 0.8 per cent.
Among major urban markets in B.C., Yu reported year-to-date declines in Abbotsford-Mission (-47.7 per cent), Kelowna (-35.5 per cent), Vancouver (-6 per cent) and Victoria (-40.8 per cent).
He said starts increased year-to-date in Chilliwack (+41.7 per cent) and Nanaimo (+70.3 per cent), while Kamloops more than doubled compared with the same period last year.
Yu also reported that more than 84,000 units remained under construction across B.C., primarily apartments in Vancouver.
On employment, Yu said business-reported payroll counts were essentially unchanged in July, edging down by 514 positions, or less than 0.1 per cent, to approximately 2.59 million, following a similar month-over-month decline of 329 positions in June.
Yu reported that payroll employment was 0.7 per cent, or 19,962 positions, above its year-earlier level, and said the job vacancy rate was 3.1 per cent for a third consecutive month, corresponding to approximately 79,585 vacant positions.
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