CMHC says pace of housing starts picked up in February compared with January

The Canadian Press</span>
Published Thursday, March 8, 2018 8:41AM EST
Last Updated Thursday, March 8, 2018 9:28AM EST

OTTAWA -- The pace of new home construction picked up in February compared with January, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Thursday.

The agency said the seasonally adjusted annual rate increased to 229,737 units in February, up from 215,260 in January.

Economists had expected the rate to come in at 216,600, according to Thomson Reuters. Housing starts are considered a leading indicator -- an early sign of how the economy is performing.

The overall increase came as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 7.1 per cent in February to 211,211 units.

Multiple urban starts increased 15 per cent to 154,535 units while single-detached urban starts fell 9.8 per cent to 56,676 units. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18,526 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts was 225,276 units in February compared with 224,572 in January.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada reported that municipalities issued $8.4 billion in building permits in January, up 5.6 per cent from December.

The increase was due in large part to permits for multi-family dwellings in Ontario that rose 71.0 per cent or $404.3 million to $974 million in January, more than offsetting the 39.7 per cent drop reported the previous month.

Overall, residential permits climbed 5.9 per cent for the month to $5.32 billion, while commercial building permits gained 8.9 per cent to $1.7 billion and institutional permits increased 19.2 per cent to $834.9 million.

Permits for industrial buildings fell 18.6 per cent to $554.5 million.

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