Home starts spring higher

May 14, 2019

April housing starts soared 20 per cent higher than a month earlier as the pace of national residential construction activity soared past expectations.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts increased to 235,460 units in April, up 22.6 per cent from 191,981 in March.
Economists had expected an annual pace of 196,400, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
The overall increase came as the annual pace of urban multiple-unit projects such as condominiums, apartments and townhouses increased 29.6 per cent to 175,732 in April.
Single-detached urban starts increased 6.0 per cent to 44,655.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15,073 units.
The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates was 206,103 in April, up from 202,420 in March.