Figures released this morning by Statistics Canada showed that house building was on the decline last month.
Canadian housing starts fell 4.1% to reach a four-month low of 189,700 annualized units in December following a 2.8% decline in November to 197,800 and 3.3% gain to 203,600 in October. The level of homebuilding activity in December, that was broadly in line with market expectations of 190,000, reflected weakness in both urban multiple-unit starts (down 4.1% to 108,900) and single-unit starts (down 6.7% to 59,000). This follows upward revisions to both components (-1.3% and +2.1%, respectively) in the previous month (initially reported as -3.1% and -3.5%, respectively). An increase in rural starts activity (up 4.1% to 21,500) provided some offset.
On a regional basis, declines in new home construction were recorded in the Prairies (-18.7% to 43,000), Ontario (-6.9% to 53,700) and Atlantic Canada (-9.1% to 6,400) reflecting a pullback in both components in each of the provinces. In contrast, strength in the multiples component drove overall gains in British Columbia (+14.5% to 30,900) and Quebec (+5.1% to 34,200).
