Housing starts in Canada were trending at 219,600 units in July, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC). The trend is a moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. The standalone monthly SAAR was 208,500 units in July, down from 222,100 in June.
‘For the first time in seven months, the July monthly SAAR estimate was below the trend estimate,’ says Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at CMHC's Market Analysis Centre. ‘The bulk of the July decrease was in the multiples segment in British Columbia.’
The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 6.4% to 187,300 units in July. Urban single starts decreased by 4% in July to 64,300 units, while multiple urban starts decreased by 7.6% to 123,000 units.
July's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 2% in Ontario and by 3% in Quebec. Urban starts decreased by 29.2% in British Columbia, 18.4% in Atlantic Canada, and 8.8% in the Prairies. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 21,200 units in July.