The trend of Canadian housing saw little movement in March, making the fifth consecutive month of stability.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Tuesday that the 6-month average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts was 226,842 in March, up from 225,804 in February.
The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 225,213 units in March, down from 231,026 units in February.
"In March, the national trend in housing starts was stable for the fifth consecutive month, as diverging trends for multi-unit and single-detached dwellings continue to offset each other," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "Over this period, multi-unit starts have trended higher in most major urban centres while single-detached starts have trended lower."
The rise of multi-family starts was strong in Vancouver, Victoria, and Toronto; but declined in Halifax and Edmonton.
