Canadian housing starts fell more than expected in December from a month ear- lier as construction of multiple units, typically condominiums, dropped sharply, the national housing agency reported on Monday.
The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp indicated the seasonally adjusted an- nualized rate of housing starts dropped to 172,965 units in December from an up– wardly revised 212,028 units in November. Forecasters expected 200,000 starts.
Housing Starts, Canada
Ground– breaking on multiple units fell to 101,264 from 138,665 in November, while single-detached starts were effectively flat at 57,743 units in December compared with 57,780 units a month earlier.
For 2015 as a whole, actual housing starts rose to 195,536 units from 189,329 units in 2014, with all of the strength coming from construction of multiple-unit dwellings. Single detached housing starts were lower in 2015.
Canada Mortgage and Housing said rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13,958.
The six-month moving average of housing starts was 203,502 units in December compared with 208,204 in November.