Canadian housing starts edged up by 0.4% to 184,000 annualized units in March to build on the previous month’s 11.7% increase to an upwardly revised 183,200 units (previously reported as 178,000), according to figures released this morning by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Market expectations were for a modest decline in the month to 175,000 annualized starts. The overall increase in March was driven by a sizable bounce in rural starts to their highest level since May 2010 (+24.0% in the month to 26,800 annualized units).
CMHC also said that total urban housing starts declined in the month, reflecting a moderation in new construction of single-unit (-6.6% to 60,600) and multiple-unit (-0.1% to 96,700) residences.
On a regional basis, sizable increases in new home construction were recorded in Atlantic Canada (+27.1%), the Prairies (+13.8%) and British Columbia (+13.1%) with each region seeing a significant jump in multiple-unit starts. Weakness in Ontario (-15.7%) and Quebec (-13.5%) provided a partial offset in March as each province retraced a portion of the outsized increases seen in the previous month (starts jumped 44.4% and 33.2% in Ontario and Quebec, respectively, in February).
Canadian homebuilding activity has been on a decidedly downward trend since peaking in the first half of 2012 and the six-month moving average of Canadian housing starts (which the CMHC refers to as the "trend" rate) declined to 189,700 annualized units in March, its lowest level since June 2011.
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