Canadian housing starts for June surged well past market expectations, and coupled with two
months of upward revisions bode well in helping the economy grow in the second quarter, monthly data showed on Monday.
Starts in June rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 197,400 units from an upwardly revised 194,100 rate in May, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said. That made for a 1.7% increase from the previous month after the surprisingly robust upward revision from an originally reported pace of 184,000 units in May.
Market operators had predicted virtually no change in June starts with a median forecast of 184,000. April's rate of starts was also revised higher, to 194,100 units from 179,000. Scotia Capital economists said starts notched their first quarterly gain in three quarters, up 6.7%.
Single-family home starts rose 11.1 percent to a 70,900-unit pace in the month. Multiple-unit dwellings, which include condominiums, were down 3.1% to 103,700 units in June. The strength in urban new home construction was concentrated in Ontario, with a region-leading increase of 24.1%, followed by a 5.6% climb in the Atlantic market.
On the downside, British Columbia posted a slump of 27.6% in the month, while urban starts fell 3.6% in Quebec and 1.2% in the Prairie region. Rural starts in June were estimated at an annual rate of 22,800 units, down from 23,300 in May.
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