Housing starts increase in Canada for second consecutive month

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Published August 11, 2020 at 11:07 pm

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For the second consecutive month, housing starts in have increased in Canada.

July saw 204,376 across the country, which was up from the 199,778 starts in June, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

“The national trend in housing starts increased for a second month in July,” Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, said in a news release.

“Higher multi-family starts in major urban areas, including Toronto, Vancouver and oil-producing centres in the Prairies drove the national increase. Following declines in previous months from COVID-19 measures, higher activity in June and July leaves the trend in housing starts in line with the long-run average level of housing starts. We expect national starts to trend lower in the near term as a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic and housing indicators,” he continued.

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of Canada’s housing market.

The monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 245,604 units in July, which represents a 15.8 per cent increase from 212,095 units in June.

Urban starts increased by 17.4 per cent in July to 231,995 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 18.8 per cent to 184,431 units in July, while single-detached urban starts increased by 12.3 per cent to 47,564 units.

Additionally, Ontario saw a 13 per cent increase for single-detached housing starts across the province, while all other starts increased by 24 per cent in Ontario.

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