Housing starts down in February

OTTAWA — The rate of housing starts fell to 156,276 units seasonally adjusted in February, down from 187,025 units in January. Urban starts decreased to 140,722 in February, from 171,950 in January. The decrease in February reflects broad based declines in eight provinces. The decrease was led by multiple urban starts, which reached 86,214 units in February down from 115,123 in January. Single-detached urban starts were also down, falling slightly to 54,508 units from 56,827.