Housing Starts
Canadian housing starts registered 160,577 units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate
(SAAR) in January, down from nearly 200,000 (SAAR) in
December. Year-over-year, housing starts were 24 per cent lower in
January.
New home construction in BC urban centres rose nearly 8 per cent
month-over-month in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 21,856
units. However, on a year-over-year basis, total starts were 19 per cent
lower than January 2012. Single-detached starts were 8 per cent higher over
last year, while multiples fell 27 per cent compared to January 2012.
Looking at census metropolitan areas (CMA) in BC, Vancouver CMA starts fell 20
per cent year-over-year in January. Single-detached starts were 19 per cent
higher than last year, while multiples were almost 30 per cent lower. New
home construction in the Abbotsford CMA was up 25 per cent compared to January
2012. Housing starts in both Kelowna and Victoria were up 12 per cent compared
to last January.
Employment
After two months of strong gains, the Canadian economy shed 22,000 jobs in
January, though a decline in people looking for work pushed the unemployment
rate lower by 0.1 points to 7 per cent.
Employment growth in BC is off to an difficult start as
employment fell by 16,000 jobs in January. However, an out-sized contraction of
the labour force prompted a decline in the unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent.
Copyright BCREA - reprinted with permission
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