The data, released
by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) on Friday, showed that the
seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 279,509 units in July,
up 15.7 per cent from a downwardly revised 241,643 units (from 241,672 units) in
June. This was the highest reading since June 2023 (281,060 units).
Economists had forecast
an annual pace of 245,000 for July.
According to
the report, urban starts surged by 17.4 per cent m-o-m last month to 261,134 units,
reflecting a 21.2 per cent m-o-m climb in multiple urban starts to 217,306 units
(the highest figure in 13 months) and a 1.7 per cent m-o-m rise in single-detached urban starts
to 43,828 (the highest figure in 8 months).
Meanwhile,
rural starts were calculated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18,375 units,
down 4.8 per cent m-o-m. This represented the lowest reading since
December 2023 (14,377).