Housing starts stay flat in July

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says total housing starts continued to be relatively stable in July.

The federal agency estimates there were 17,993 actual starts in July which, extrapolated over 12 months, gives a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 192,853 starts.

That was slightly down from June's adjusted annual rate of 193,797 starts.

The agency says the annual rate of urban starts decreased by 2.1 per cent in July to 173,042 units, as both single and multiple urban starts declined.

Single urban starts decreased by 5.5 per cent to 58,731 units on an annual basis in July while the multiple urban starts segment essentially held steady at 114,311 units.

July's seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts rose in British Columbia and decreased in all other regions, including Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies.