Canada’s annual pace of housing starts jumped by 16 per cent in July.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 279,509 units.
That was compared to 241,643 units in June, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Chief Economist Bob Dugan said this was due to growth in actual year-over-year starts, driven by higher multi-unit starts.
“As the national housing shortage continues, developers remain focused on multi-unit construction in Canada’s major centres,” Dugan said in a news release.
Figures provided by the corporation show the annual rate of urban starts increased 17 per cent to 261,134.
Multi-unit urban starts jumped 21 per cent to 217,306 units while single-detached urban starts were up two per cent to 43,828 units.
The annual rate of rural starts was estimated to be around 18,375 units, according to the corporation.
Meanwhile, the six-month trend in housing starts saw a 3.2 per cent increase, from 247,840 units in June to 255,783 units in July.
July’s actual number of housing starts in urban centres was up 10 per cent to 22,572 units. Year to date, urban centres have seen 132,823 housing starts, up 7.5 per cent over the same period in 2023.
