Month after month the reports come in and month after month Calgary is still holding at a bleak one per cent rental vacancy.

In a report released by CIBC World Markets Inc., Calgary was shown to have the lowest rental vacancy rate out of the major city markets in Canada.

Housing starts in the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) increased by six per cent in January. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), builders broke ground on 1,328 homes in January, an 84.7 per cent increase from January 2013's 719 units.

"The trend in total housing starts moved higher in January due to increased production in both the single-detached and multi-family markets. The rising trend in housing starts has been supported by heightened net migration and job growth, as well as a decline in new home inventories," said Richard Cho, CMHC's Senior Market Analyst for Calgary.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) saw that December had an increase of housing starts over the month of November. December saw that starts were trending at 14,013 units, where November had 13,941 units.

The monthly seasonally adjusted rates (SAAR) of total housing starts show a trend of a six month moving average.