Housing starts fell in March: CMHC

The annual pace of housing starts slowed in March compared with February said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. on Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate slowed to 225,213 units last month compared with 231,026 in February.

Multiple urban starts, which includes buildings such as apartments, townhouses and condominiums, fell 7.3% to 144,578 units in March.

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Single-detached urban starts increased 9.5% to 63,659.

Meanwhile, rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16,976 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates edged up to 226,842 units in March compared with 225,804 in February.

Royce Mendes, senior economist at CIBC Economics, said in a note to clients that higher interest rates and OSFI’s mortgage stress test that came into force in January would likely “keep a lid on growth in the sector.”

“We continue to expect that homebuilders will break ground at a slower rate over the remainder 2018,” he said.

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Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.