The housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose to 245,604 in July, up from 212,095 in June.

Crown corporations such as the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and Business Development Bank of Canada will collectively lose $12 billion this fiscal year, the parliamentary budget officer says.

The result came as urban starts of apartments, condos and other types of multiple-unit housing projects rose 13.0 per cent to 154,602 units in June.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the market likely won't see a return to pre-pandemic levels before the end of 2022.

An online notice from early April says the federal government was "focused on addressing this crisis" given the "uncertain and evolving circumstances related to COVID-19."

The agency also used the statement to acknowledge its role in funding the forced resettlement of Black people, as well as a lack of diversity within its own ranks.

The policy change will lower some homebuyers' purchasing power.

The country's national housing agency says it's changing the credit score needed to get mortgage insurance to 680 from 600 and limiting the gross and total debt servicing ratios to 35 and 42 respectively.

In its 2020 Housing Market Outlook, CMHC predicted housing prices to fall between 19 and 29 per cent across the country, percentages based on projections pre-coronavirus pandemic.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. manages the national housing strategy, which totals some $40 billion in federal and provincial spending, and billions more to help first-time home buyers and others applying for mortgages.