The six-month moving average of Canadian housing starts in September was 214,821 units, a 2.6 percent decrease compared with 220,573 units in August, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
“Housing starts are trending lower in September after increasing for eight consecutive months,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, in a statement. “Nevertheless, new home construction remains very strong as the seasonally adjusted number of starts was above 200,000 units for four straight months.”
Month-to-month, starts decreased 3.9 percent from 225,918 units in August to 217,118 in September. Urban starts decreased 5.1 percent to 198,910 units. Multifamily starts dropped 10.7 percent to 131,388 units, while urban single-family starts increased 8.2 percent to 67,522.
