Canada Housing Starts Fall 5 Percent in July

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that the annual pace of housing starts in July fell 5 percent compared to June. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts dropped to 229,074 units from 240,773 in the previous month.

In urban centers with populations of 10,000 or more, actual monthly housing starts were 18,834 units, marking a 19 percent decrease from July of the previous year. Rural starts for July were estimated at an annual pace of 11,274 units.

Despite the drop in starts, construction completions rose 8.1 percent from June to 19,773 units. The number of units with approved building permits that have not yet started increased 3 percent month-to-month to 141,480 units. The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate declined slightly by 0.5 percent to 247,377 units.