Housing starts in Canada were trending at 214,680 units in November, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), continuing a downward trend.
‘As expected, housing starts remained below their recent trend and continued to fall for a third straight month,’ says Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at CMHC. ‘This decrease was mainly attributable to declines in single-detached and multi-unit housing construction in Ontario and British Columbia, resulting in part from a decline in the pace of pre-sales relative to that in late 2010 and early 2011.’
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased by 4% to 174,323 units in November. Urban single starts declined by 5.4% to 58,606 units, while urban multiple starts fell by 3.2% to 115,717 units.
November's seasonally adjusted annual rates of urban starts fell in Ontario (-14.3%), British Columbia (-16.5%) and Atlantic Canada (-45.6%). Urban starts rose in Quebec (15.4%) and the Prairies (16.1%). Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 21,802 units in November.