Canada Housing Starts Rebound in December, But Down 7% in 2023 from Year Prior

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canadian housing starts rebounded in December after a surprise decline in the prior month, but ended the year down from 2022 - at a time when the deficit of housing units is at or near record lows.

Housing starts across Canada came in at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 249,255 units in December, an 18% increase from the month before, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday. Market expectations pegged a rebound in starts to 247,500, according to economists at Bank of Nova Scotia.

For 2023, actual housing starts fell 7% to 223,513 units from the prior year, and the federal housing agency attributed the weakness to a sharp dropoff in construction of single-detached homes.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-16-24 0840ET