Pace of new Canadian home construction eased last month, CMHC says

OTTAWA – The pace of new Canadian residential construction eased last month following an unusually robust June, but still held up stronger than expected.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the seasonally adjusted rate of housing starts in July was 198,395 units, down from 218,326 units the month before.

Economists had estimated a decline to 195,000 units.

Multiple-unit projects in urban areas were down 13.3 per cent compared with June, falling to 123,630.

Single-detached starts in urban areas fell by 1.8 per cent to 58,990 units and rural starts were estimated at 15,775 units.

Urban starts for all types of dwellings fell 9.9 per cent to 182,620 units nationally, with decreases in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

Urban starts increased in the Prairies.

CMHC also provides a six-month trend report, which increased to 201,936 units in July, up from 197,847 in June.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had an incorrect figure for multiple-unit projects in urban areas.