The data, released
by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) on Monday, revealed that the
seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 240,761 units in October,
up 7.8 per cent from a downwardly revised 223,391 units
(from 223,808 units) in September. This represented
the highest reading in three months.
Economists had forecast
an annual pace of 242,500 for October.
According to
the report, urban starts surged by 6.1 per cent m-o-m last month to 223,111 units,
reflecting a 7.5 per cent m-o-m climb in multiple urban starts to 175,705 and a 1.4 per cent m-o-m increase
in single-detached urban starts to 47,406.
Meanwhile,
rural starts were calculated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17650 units,
up 34.2 per cent m-o-m. This marked the highest reading since June (19,519).