Mortgage And Housing Corp. Reports The Annual Pace Of Housing Starts Slowed In May

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported that the rate at which houses are being sold has decreased compared to last month.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate for April was 191,388 but has decreased to 188,570 in May.

In May, the six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate was 191,000 compared with 194,950 the month before.

Sales of urban starts have decreased by 2.5 % in May to 170,432 and at the same time, multiple-unit starts dropped by 5.7% narrowing down to 110,834 as single-detached starts increased to 59,598 units by 4.2%.

In other regions such as British Columbia and the Prairies, the annual pace of urban starts fell. However, it increased in some places including Atlantic Canada Ontario, and Quebec.

Starts in the rural areas were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 18,138 units.

However, according to Statistics Canada, it was reported that the value of building permits issued by municipalities in April dropped by 0.3% to $6.9 billion.

It was believed that that loss occurred as a result of the lower construction intentions in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, Statcan reported that the value of residential permits decreased by 1.8% in April to $4.3 billion, while the permits for multi-family buildings fell 6.2% to $1.9 billion, and single-family buildings increased by 1.8% to $2.5 billion.

There was a 2.5% increase in non-residential building permits in April whilst institutional building permits increased by 15% at $695 million. Commercial permits also increased by 2.5% at $1.5 billion. However, industrial permits witnessed a 16.5% in drop in April to $346 million, making it the lowest starts since 2013.