Housing starts slide in January

The annualized pace of housing starts declined 13 percent in January to 215,365 units, from 248,296 units in December, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. The pace of urban starts fell 16 percent, with 191,491 units recorded in January. Multi-unit urban starts were down 20 percent to 146,267 units, while single-detached urban starts increased three percent to 45,224 units. Rural starts were estimated at a pace of 23,874 units.