OTTAWA, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Housing starts in Canada trended higher in September compared to August, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday.
The trend in housing starts, a six-month rolling average on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, rose to 190,492 in September from 188,440 in August.
The stand alone 12-month annual rate for July, seasonally adjusted, was 193,637, up slightly from the 183,964 mark from August, the national housing agency said.
Urban area housing starts rose to 177,240 in September, up by 4.3 percent. Urban housing starts that included multiple-unit urban projects rose by 5.9 percent to 113,705, while single-family urban project starts rose by 1.4 percent to 63,535 in the month.
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16,397.
Recent gains in the housing trend "is consistent with sales of existing homes, which have trended higher since February 2013," said Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at CMHC in a statement.
"The trend in the new home market typically lags the trend in the existing home market," Laberge said.
