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.

British Columbia's housing starts fell by 14 percent in 2008. Strong growth since the trough of 3.6 per 1,000 population in 2000 allowed starts to reach 9.1 in 2007 before falling to 7.8 last year.

British Columbia's housing starts peaked in 1993 at 12.0 per 1,000 population. The 2008 level is 35 percent lower than the peak.

More than half of all starts on average over the last ten years were in Vancouver. Regional BC accounted for a little more than one quarter while Kelowna, Victoria and Abbotsford together accounted for 17 percent.