The data, issued
by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) on Monday, showed that the
seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 264,506 units in May,
up 9.7 per cent from an upwardly revised 241,111 units (from 240,229 units) in April.
This represented the highest reading since October 2023 (272,162 units).
Economists had forecast
an annual pace of 247,000 for May.
According to
the report, urban starts climbed by 11.2 per cent m-o-m last month to 246,111 units,
reflecting a 13.4 per cent m-o-m surge in multiple urban starts to 203,141 units
(the highest figure in seven months) and a 1.8 per cent m-o-m increase in single-detached urban
starts to 42,970 (the highest figure in four months).
Meanwhile,
rural starts were calculated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18,395 units,
down 6.8 per cent m-o-m. This marked the lowest reading since December
2023 (14,377).