On Tuesday, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said that the seasonally adjusted rate of housing starts in April was 244,900 units, up from 214,800 in March.
The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 18 percent to 226,200 units in April. Urban single starts increased modestly by 0.6 percent in April to 67,700 units. Meanwhile, multiple urban starts increased by 27.4 percent to 158,500 units. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18,700 units in April.
While data for building permits in April has not yet been released, Statistics Canada said Monday that building permits were valued at $6.8 billion in March, up from 4.7 percent in February following a 7.6 percent increase the previous month. Non-residential construction permits rose 13.9 percent to $2.9 billion, following a 37.7 percent increase the previous month. However, the value of residential permits declined 1.3 percent to $3.9 billion, the third monthly decrease in a row.