CMHC says annual pace of housing starts slows in April compared with March

OTTAWA – Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in April slowed compared with March.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new home construction, which is seen as a measure of the health of the housing market, fell to 214,379 units in April compared with 225,459 in March.

The move came as the pace of starts in urban areas fell 4.7 per cent in April to 198,090.

The rate of multiple urban starts, which includes apartments, townhouses and condominiums, fell 2.7 per cent to 141,032, while the rate of single-detached urban starts dropped 9.3 per cent to 57,058.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16,289.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates edged down to 225,696 in April compared with 226,942 in March.