The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says the annual pace of housing starts in December rose 18 per cent from November, helped by a rise in urban multi-family housing starts in Vancouver and Montreal .
The state housing agency says the monthly seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts for December was 249,255 units, up from 210,918 in November.
This statistic decreased by 35% in Toronto, due to a sharp decline in multi-family housing starts. Montreal and Vancouver both recorded gains, of 66% and 92% respectively, thanks to a significant increase in collective housing starts (semi-detached, townhouses and apartments).
Across the country, in urban centers with 10,000 inhabitants or more, the seasonally adjusted and annualized monthly number of housing starts increased by 20%, to 234,705. It increased by 26% in the collective housing segment and decreased by 2% in the single-family housing segment, to 191,463 and 43,242 respectively.
The annual rate of housing starts in rural areas was estimated at 14,550 for December.
The six-month rolling average of monthly seasonally adjusted annualized housing starts rates in December was 249,898, down 2.1% from November’s 255,198.
For the year as a whole, CMHC indicates that the actual number of housing starts nationally decreased by 7% in centers of 10,000 inhabitants and more, to stand at 223,513 , compared to 240,590 in 2022. This drop is mainly explained by a 25% decline in starts of single-family homes.
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