Housing starts plunge in October

Canadian housing starts fell 9.2% to an annualized pace of 167,900 units in October, marking the fifth monthly decline in the six months since reaching an almost two-year high in April (at 205,600 annualized units). Market expectations were for a...

Canadian housing starts fell 9.2% to an annualized pace of 167,900 units in October, marking the fifth monthly decline in the six months since reaching an almost two-year high in April (at 205,600 annualized units). Market expectations were for a much smaller 2.4% decrease in the level of starts to 182,000 annualized units. With the most recent reading in September of 210,100, expectations had been buoyed by permits remaining high. The sharp monthly drop in starts follows September’s revised 3.1% decline to 185,000 (previously reported as 186,400) and represents the slowest pace of housing starts since September 2009.

The weakness in total housing starts was the result of sharp declines in both major components, with the typically volatile urban-multiples component falling 11.2% and the fairly stable single-urban starts down 8.0% from the previous month. Providing some offset was an estimated 12.3% rise in the rural-housing starts.

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