OTTAWA – Canadian housing starts slowed in January as groundbreaking on new homes fell to the lowest level in four years in provinces that have been hurt by the downturn within the energy sector, a report from the national housing agency showed on Friday.
The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 165,861 units last month from the downwardly revised 172,533 units in December, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) said. The report had originally been scheduled for release on Feb. 8.
Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist, said the general decline was mostly due to a slowdown in the Prairie provinces, with the six-month moving average in the region in a four-year low.
Separate data on Friday demonstrated that in Alberta, in which the country’s vast oilsands can be found, January’s unemployment rate rose to its highest level since February 1996.
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In the Prairies, which include Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, starts in urban areas fell 8.9 per cent to 29,273 units.
“That constitutes a lot of sense given we’re visiting a pretty dramatic slowdown in housing demand in areas like Calgary,” said Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Nonetheless, the general number of starts was weaker than expected given unusually warm winter months in areas, said Kavcic, who had been anticipating something closer to 190,000.
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, was a standout with urban starts rising 12.7 per cent to 58,602 units.
“This is probably something you’re going to see through 2016 where housing starts in (the Prairies) grind down a bit further still,” said Kavcic. “On the flip side, you may be likely to see stability, otherwise more strength, in areas like Toronto and Vancouver.”
? Thomson Reuters 2016
