Toronto is on target to set a new annual home starts record
August was another outstanding month for housing starts nationally, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The latest seasonally adjusted and annualized figure was 225,000 units, up 8.2% from July and an increase of 17.6% from August of last year.
Year-to-date housing starts in Canada have averaged 218,000 units through the first eight months of this year, which is an increase of 15.2% versus the same period last year.
The consensus expectation has been for a drop-off in home starts beginning this fall. Traffic in showrooms is apparently down. And the measures adopted by the federal government to tighten mortgage approvals are cutting into first-time homebuyer demand.
But for the moment at least, the numbers remain elevated and there is some measure of strength in almost all regions across the land.
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