Canadian housing starts declined 5.3% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 236,554 units, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Urban starts dropped 3.7% and multiple urban starts decreased 5.3% month-over-month.
“A slight increase in single-detached starts didn’t offset a larger decrease in multi-family starts in October and led to a decline in overall starts for the month,” stated Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “On a trend and monthly SAAR basis, however, the level of housing starts activity in Canada remains high in historical terms.”
Among Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, Vancouver was the only housing market to record an increase in housing starts, largely due to a rebound in the multi-family segment.
The full CMHC report can be found here.
