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Annual pace of housing starts in January up from December, tops expectations

OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the pace of housing starts climbed in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 213,224 units, compared with 195,892 in December.
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Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. releases report on January housing starts, in a Feb. 10, 2020 story. (Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS)

OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the pace of housing starts climbed in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 213,224 units, compared with 195,892 in December.

Economists had expected an annualized rate of 205,000 units, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

CMHC says the annualized pace of urban starts increased 9.8 per cent in January to 202,407 units.

Multi-unit urban starts rose 13.6 per cent to 155,140 in January, while urban starts on single-detached homes fell 0.9 per cent to 47,267.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10,817 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts edged down to 210,915 in January compared with 212,212 in December.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2020.