Canadian Housing Starts Increase Slightly

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in Canada inched up 0.4% in July to 242,300 units from 241,300 units in June, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp."The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts rose 2.1% to 211,600 units in July, due solely to a surge in multiple starts. Single starts declined 9% to 89,500 units, while multiple starts were up 12.2% to 122,100 units in July compared to June. The stronger performance of multiple starts compared to single starts is consistent with the expectation that rising house prices will result in a shift in demand toward less expensive multifamily homes, the CMHC said. The CMHC can be found on the Web at http://www.cmhc.ca.