Regional Indicator 5: Housing Starts

	Why It's Important Housing starts are considered a good leading indicator for home sales and a major indicator of economic activity and consumer confidence. Housing construction is an important generator of employment.

Regional Indicator Five measures the number of dwelling units started and the number of permits issued for construction. It represents the count of dwelling units in new structures designated for non-transient year-round occupancy. The start is recorded when a footing is installed. All new units are counted for urban areas of 10,000 or greater population. Less populated areas are sampled and an estimate is included.

Housing starts in BC have shown strong growth since the trough of 3.6 per 1,000 population in 2000, rising by 151 percent to reach 8.9 in 2007.

All regions saw improvement. Vancouver had the smallest 2000 to 2007 increase at 129 percent. The largest, in Regional BC, was 184 percent.

British Columbia's housing starts peaked in 1993 at 12.0 per 1,000 population. The 2007 level is 25 percent lower than the peak.

Regional variations are greater for the peak vs. 2007 level than for the 2000 to 2007 growth discussed above. Victoria's 2007 level is only 17 percent below its 1990 peak of 8.9 while Abbotsford is 61 percent below its 1990 peak of 16.1.