Housing starts up in October, building on momentum: CMHC

By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., says the pace of housing starts heated up again in October, continuing the momentum that began to build in July.

The agency estimates there were 17,033 actual starts in October, which extrapolated over 12 months gives a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 198,282 units, compared with 195,929 in September.

Urban starts were essentially unchanged at a seasonally adjusted rate of 177,434 units.

Multiple urban starts registered a slight increase of 0.9 per cent to 115,011 units in October while the single urban starts segment saw a decrease of 1.7 per cent to 62,423 units.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased in Ontario, but slipped in British Columbia, Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, and Quebec.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 20,848 units.

The agency says housing starts are in line with its projections.

"The trend in total housing starts has gained momentum since July, which is in line with expectations that new construction would strengthen over the second half of 2013," said Mathieu Laberge, the corporation's deputy chief economist.