Increases in condo construction led to an increase in homebuilding activity in the Vancouver area for the first nine months of the year, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported yesterday.

Housing starts in the Vancouver area rose 5.3 per cent from the same period last year, CMHC said yesterday.

That increase came despite a slowdown in building activity in September, when overall starts fell by 6.4 per cent, CMHC said.

Healthy increases in multi-family-unit activity in Coquitlam, Surrey and the city of Vancouver drove the growth in home construction, CMHC senior market analyst Robyn Adamache said.

"Employment and population growth will support demand for new homes," Adamache said.

"However, consumer uncertainty and high home prices will temper the effects of these positive

factors."

The well-supplied resale housing market also will move some demand away from new housing, Adamache said.

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association, said the 5.3-per-cent rise over 2007 is significant because 2007 was the best year for starts since 1993.

"Even if starts levels drop below last year's levels over the next three months, due to slower sales, housing starts would still average 19,000 per year over the past five years," Simpson said.

The Abbotsford area has been enjoying rapid growth in housing starts, CMHC said.

Year-over-year homebuilding activity in Abbotsford soared by 120.3 per cent last month, the Crown corporation said.

For the first nine months of the year, Abbotsford housing starts rose 33.3 per cent from the same period last year.

In Chilliwack, housing starts fell by 44 per cent during the first nine months of this year from the same period in 2007.

Across urban B.C., starts fell by 14.3 per cent in September and rose by 1.3 per cent year to date.

Nationally, starts edged up last month to an annual seasonally adjusted pace of 217,400, thanks to increased apartment and condo building activity, CMHC said.

Urban starts were up 0.1 per cent, as a 5.5-per-cent increase in apartment and condo building activity more than offset an 8.1-per-cent drop in single-family starts.

For the first nine months of 2008, however, actual starts in rural and urban areas combined were down 5.7 per cent from the same period last year. Activity on key single-family homes fell 15.6 per cent, offsetting a gain of 12.2 per cent in the more volatile multiple-unit sector.

Analysts applauded the recent strength in overall housing starts, but warned it won't last.

"Despite the surprising strength in starts over the past two months, we expect new residential construction activity to moderate in the coming months as tighter lending conditions and a weak domestic economy temper demand for housing," said TD Securities economic strategist Millan Mulraine.

© The Vancouver Province 2008