Forexpros – Canadian housing starts rose unexpectedly in April, rising to the highest level since September 2007, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose to 245,000 units in April from a downwardly revised 215,000 units in March.
Analysts had expected Canadian housing starts to dip to 204,000 units in April.
Commenting on the report, deputy chief economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre Mathieu Laberge said, “Most of the increase was in the multiples segment. The increase in this segment is partly a reflection of the high level of pre-sales in large multi-unit projects since 2011, which is in line with job gains over the last year.”
“Looking at single-detached homes, 67,700 such units were started across Canada in April, a rate which is consistent with that of the recent past,” added Laberge.
Following the release of the data, the Canadian dollar remained lower against its U.S. counterpart, with USD/CAD rising 0.27% to trade at 0.9957.
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