Canada Housing Starts Unexpectedly Rise in May

The seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts in Canada jumped 16.2 percent from a month earlier to 193,453 units in May 2020, beating market expectations of 155,000 units, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Urban starts rose by 13.8% to 181,122 units, as multiple urban starts increased by 12.3% to 135,859 units and single-detached urban starts went up by 18.6% to 45,263 units. The release also included national housing starts totals without Quebec in order to assess the impact of the coronavirus crisis where the survey was conducted in both April and May, following the introduction of pandemic measures in the province in late March. Excluding Quebec, housing starts slumped by 20.4% to 132,576 units. Urban starts dropped by 21.6% due to both multiple (-27.2%) and single-detached urban starts (-3.9%). Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7,772 units excluding Quebec.