Canadian Housing Starts Slip in July

Canadian housing starts in July fell slightly to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 192,853 units from 193,797 units in June. The decrease was 0.5 percent from June levels and 9.5 percent below housing starts in July 2012.

Urban starts for single units decreased by 5.5 percent to 58,732 units in July while urban multi-unit housing starts declined by a scant 0.2 percent to 114,311 units.

Housing construction surged during the spring and appears to be stabilizing said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

“For the past few months, total housing starts have followed the stabilizing trend observed in sales of existing homes earlier this year,” said Mathieu Laberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC. “As expected, the trends in the two market segments typically follow a similar pattern with the new home market lagging behind the existing home market by a few months.”