Housing starts down in March

OTTAWA — The standalone monthly rate of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 204,251 units, seasonally adjusted, in March, down from 219,077 units in February. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 7% in March to 185,022 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 9.7% to 123,207 units  and single-detached urban starts decreased by 1.1%. “Overall, starts were trending lower in March due to a slowdown in multi-unit construction,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. “This was the case across the country, except in British Columbia where declining inventories of new and unsold units as well as low levels of new listings in the resale market spurred builders to start new projects.”