Despite a drop in new international immigrants, Metro Vancouver’s housing market will continue to be propped up by a rise in interprovincial migration, according to the Urban Development Institute’s latest State of the Market report for 2015’s third quarter, released November 19.

Metro Vancouver’s population has increased by 10,900 residents over the past quarter, which the UDI said was a four-year high and evenly split between international and interprovincial migration at around 4,000 each (the remainder being attributable to local growth and/or movement within BC).

Interprovincial migrants increased by 3,974, which is the fourth-highest quarterly figure in 10 years, and can be largely attributed to the slide in oil prices halting the exodus of BC residents to oil-rich provinces.

The report said: “While net interprovincial migration is currently strong, recent international migration totals have been much lower than previous years and should be monitored closely in subsequent quarters.”

The charts in the image gallery above show Metro Vancouver’s population growth and housing starts over the past four years, and the population change per housing start.

The UDI said that the current ratio of 2.6 new residents per housing start is within the range deemed to be healthy for stable market conditions (between two and three). This is up from 2.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2015.

The report added, “Overall released inventory levels of new multi-family residential product continue to decrease. There are currently 5,433 new multi-family units throughout Metro Vancouver that are released and unsold, which is down 25 per cent from last quarter and down 42 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.”

To read the full report, which is sponsored by REW.ca and its parent company Glacier Media Group, click here.