Housing starts in Canada were trending at 189,742 units in March, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Housing starts were trending at 195,087 units in February. The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. 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 the housing market.
"As expected, the trend in total housing starts continued to moderate in March. Builders are adjusting to lower housing demand and as a result, completed and unoccupied units per capita remain relatively close to their historical average," said Mathieu Laberge, Deputy Chief Economist at CMHC.
The standalone monthly SAAR was 184,028 units in March, up slightly from 183,207 in February. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 2.7 percent in March to 157,217 units, led by a 6.6 percent decline in single urban starts to 60,558 units. Multiple urban starts remained relatively unchanged at 96,659 units in March.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 26,811 units in March.