Single detached construction starts were up dramatically in the capital in July, causing housing starts to trend higher than the month before, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Housing starts trended at 5,442 in July, up 184 from June.
“This month singles had a clear dominance in the market breaking the 55 per cent market share, a phenomenon seen only once in the past 5 years,” CMHC senior analyst Sandra Perez Torres said in a statement. “The expectation is for a tilt toward low-rise construction this year led by stronger construction activity of singles outside the greenbelt.”
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The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts for July was 4,572, down from 6,658 in June. The CMHC report said that reflected a sharp decline in row house and apartment starts.
Nationally, housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 189,784 in July, compared with 185,952 in June.
The federal agency says the overall increase came as the pace of urban starts increased slightly to 200,098 units in July, compared with 198,665 in June.
It says multiple urban starts decreased to 115,870 units in July, while single-detached urban starts increased to 67,062 units.
CMHC says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased in Atlantic Canada and Ontario, and decreased in the Prairies.
The agency says there were also modest decreases in British Columbia and Quebec.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,166 compared with 16,206 in June.
– with files from the Canadian Press