Canadian housing starts up in November

OTTAWA, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Canada's housing starts edged up by 1,400 units to 158,500 in November from October, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Tuesday.

The November total is the highest of the year, the agency said in a release from Ottawa.

"Despite a small decline in November's multiple home construction, overall starts numbers were up due to a solid increase in singles starts," said CMHC Chief Economist Bob Dugan.

Urban multiple starts dipped from 72,500 units in October to 71,300 units in November, while single urban starts increased by 3.4 percent to 69,800 units, the national housing agency's report said.

By region, urban housing starts increased by 10 percent in Quebec, by 8.2 percent in the Prairies and by 6.2 percent in British Columbia. The rate of urban starts decreased by 8.3 percent in Ontario and by 9.8 percent in Atlantic Canada, the report said

The report came a day after Statistics Canada reported the value of building permits issued in October rose 18 percent from September to $6.1 billion.