Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in October fell 17 percent compared with September.
The national housing agency said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 232,765 units in October, down from 279,174 in September.
The drop came as the number of starts in Ontario and British Columbia fell in October, said CMHC deputy chief economist Tania Bourassa-Ochoa.
However, she noted that higher starts in markets like Montreal, Calgary, and Edmonton helped keep the national year-to-date total elevated compared with the same period last year.
“While these results are generally reflective of investment decisions made months or even years ago, they also highlight persistent and significant regional contrasts in housing construction trends across the country,” said Bourassa-Ochoa in a press release….