Anyone hoping for a more affordable housing market in Vancouver will be disappointed.

“Though demand-supply conditions are improving, affordability is expected to remain a concern,” writes Marc Desormeaux, an economist and policy analyst for Scotiabank Economics, in a report published this week. “Despite the [year-to-date] increase, Vancouver’s inventory of unabsorbed homes remains well below its long-run average, building on the shortfall accrued in recent years and indicating further price increases are likely ahead,” Desormeaux continues.

In August, the benchmark price of a Metro Vancouver home was $1,083,400, up 4.1 per cent from a year ago.

In a separate report released last week, Central 1 noted that BC housing starts rose in August, marking the second consecutive month that contractors broke ground for an increasing number of units. Housing starts hit a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 48,300 homes last month, flying 28 per cent above the level reached the same time last year and up 8 per cent from July.