Canada’s rate of housing starts dipped last month: CMHC

May’s decline pushed down the six-month average

By The Canadian Press | June 8, 2018 | Last updated on June 8, 2018

1 min read

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the pace of new housing construction slowed in May, largely because of a 16.4% decline in multi-unit projects in urban areas after several months of above-average activity.

The federal agency says the seasonally adjusted rate of housing starts for all of Canada was 195,613 units in May, down from 216,775 units in April.

May’s decline pushed down the six-month average to 216,362 units on a seasonally adjusted basis from a six-month average of 225,481 units in April.

The primary reason for the month-over-month decline was that fewer condos, townhomes and other multi-unit projects started up in some urban areas in May.

The seasonally adjusted rate of multiple urban starts fell 16.4% to 119,811 units in May, while single-detached urban starts increased by 2% to 58,390 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,412 units.

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