Canadian Housing Starts Up 5% in August

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Canadian Housing Starts Up 5% in August

Toronto, Ontario, September 12, 2007--Canadian housing starts rose 5.1% in August, ahead of expectations, but below highs in recent years, which suggested the domestic market may be cooling.

 

Canadian housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 226,500 units, from 215,600 units in July, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said on Tuesday.

 

The figure for August beat the consensus expectation of analysts for 220,000 starts, but there are signs the market is starting to moderate, said Pascal Gauthier, economist at TD Economics.

 

"While still going strong, the residential housing market is nonetheless stepping off the pedal from peak levels observed in the past three years."

 

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased 6% to 192,700 in August from July.

 

Urban single-family starts rose 1.8% to 91,300 units in August, while urban multiple starts -- condominiums and apartments -- jumped 10.1% to 101,400 units.

 

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 33,800 units in August, unchanged from July.

 

Data from Statistics Canada showed the annual increase in new housing prices slowed for an 11th consecutive month, to 7.7% in July from 7.8% in June. The month-on-month increase rose to 0.9% in July, from 0.7% in June.