(Ottawa) The annual pace of housing starts rose 10% in May compared to April, helped by gains in Montreal and Toronto, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The housing agency reports that the monthly seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts stood at 264,506 units in May, up from 241,111 units in April.
This increase is partly attributable to the fact that the annual pace of housing starts has more than doubled in Montreal, with an increase of 104%.
In Toronto, the increase was around 47%. In both cases, the increase was stimulated by starts of collective housing.
In Vancouver, the pace of housing starts fell 32% in May compared to April.
According to CMHC, in urban centers, the monthly seasonally adjusted and annualized number of housing starts increased by 11%, to 246,111.
Still in urban centers, the seasonally adjusted and annualized monthly number of housing starts increased by 13% in the collective housing segment, to stand at 203,141, and by 2% in that of single-family homes. , to amount to 42,970.
The monthly seasonally adjusted and annualized number of housing starts was estimated at 18,395 in rural areas.
The six-month moving average of monthly seasonally adjusted annualized housing starts increased 3.8% in May to 247,830 units.