The trend measure of housing starts in Canada was 201,936 units in July compared to 197,847 in June, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

“July’s housing starts continued to pick up pace, as construction strengthened in BC and Ontario’s multi-unit segments,” said Aled ab Iorwerth, CMHC’s Deputy Chief Economist. “This reflects continued strong demand for lower-priced homes and low inventories of completed and unsold new units.”

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of Canada’s housing market. In some situations analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as they are largely driven by the multi-unit segment of the market which can vary significantly from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR for all areas in Canada was 198,395 units in July, down from 218,326 units in June. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 9.9 per cent in July to 182,620 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 13.3 per cent to 123,630 units in July and the single-detached urban starts decreased by 1.8 per cent to 58,990 units.

In July, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario, and in Atlantic Canada, but increased in the Prairies.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15,775 units.