Canada Housing Starts Rise 1.5% to 274,681 Units in October

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA–Canadian housing starts were modestly higher last month as multi-unit building continued to drive activity, though year-to-date starts are down.

Housing starts across Canada came in at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 274,681 units for October, a 1.5% rise from the month before, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Thursday. The market was expecting 256,000 residential housing projects to have started for the month, according to economists at TD Securities.

The trend measure–a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts–advanced 0.9% to 256,280 units in October, Canada’s national housing agency said.

Urban starts were up roughly 2% for the month, with multi-family units such as condominiums and row houses increasing 1% to 209,887 and starts for single detached units climbing 9% to 47,470 units. Actual year-to-date housing starts were down 7% in urban centers nationally, which the agency said was due to lower single-detached starts.

Total housing starts were down 43% in Montreal and 24% in Toronto, while Vancouver recorded an increase of 35% that was driven by an increase in multi-unit starts.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [email protected]

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