Housing starts dip

In March, housing starts dropped, says the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The trend measure of starts was 196,783 units, compared to 201,618 in February.

“Starts [fell] in March due to a slowdown in multi-unit construction,” says Bob Dugan, CMHC chief economist. The only exception was British Columbia, “where declining inventories of new and unsold units, as well as low levels of new listings in the resale market, spurred builders to start new projects.”

The standalone monthly SAAR for all areas in Canada was 204,251 units in March, down from 219,077 units in February. In particular, the SAAR of urban starts decreased by 7% in March to 185,022 units, while multiple urban starts decreased by 9.7% to 123,207 units. Single-detached urban starts decreased by 1.1% to 61,815 units.

Overall, in March, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts decreased in British Columbia, Québec, Atlantic Canada and the Prairies, but increased in Ontario.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 19,299 units.

Click here for preliminary housing starts tables.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.