Canadian housing starts rose 14% in February, CMHC says

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in February climbed 14 per cent compared with January.

The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts amounted to 253,468 units in February compared with 223,176 in January.

When looking at year-over-year figures, February’s actual housing starts were 10 per cent higher in Toronto and 82 per cent higher in Vancouver because of higher multi-unit starts.

1:33 Feds to build 100k rental units across Canada with $40M in funding

Montreal’s actual starts dropped nine per cent with multi-unit and single-detached starts both falling.

The annual rate of rural starts was estimated at 14,835 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts in February was 245,665, up by 0.4 per cent from 244,638 in January.