Canadian housing starts dipped in September, capping another quarter of strong home building growth, but a drop in August building permits suggested the long boom is cooling, separate reports from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed Tuesday.
Groundbreaking on homes in Canada edged slightly lower in September to 217,118 units from August’s upwardly revised 225,918 as a 10.7 per cent drop in multiple starts, typically condos, outweighed an 8.2 per cent climb in single starts.
Housing Starts, Canada
The 5.5 per cent decrease in total building permits surpassed forecasts for a decline of 1.0 per cent and suggested that the building boom will slow in the months ahead. July figures were revised to show a decrease of 2.8 per cent from the previously reported 3.5 per cent fall.
Residential permits fell 2.8 per cent as a 6.0 per cent drop in multifamily building permits offset a 0.4 per cent increase in plans to build single-family homes. Nonresidential building permits fell 10.0 per cent in August as construction intentions for industrial, commercial and institutional buildings all declined.
A separate report from Statistics Canada showed the value of Canadian building permits fell more than expected in August, the second straight monthly decrease, on lower construction intentions for multifamily homes as well as industrial facilities.