Toronto/IBNS: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) has reported that the country's annual pace of housing starts declined by 11 percent in March compared with February.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts, said the national housing agency, in March came in at 213,865 units, down from 240,927 in February.

Among the Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal Census metropolitan areas, only Vancouver recorded an increase of up to 98 per cent in total SAAR housing starts in March, due mainly to over twice as many multi-unit starts compared to February.

Montreal showed a decline of 12 per cent and Toronto declined 26 per cent.

The drop resulted due to the decline of 12 percent in the annual rate of urban starts by 192,545 units in the month.

The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The annual rate of multi-unit urban starts fell 11 percent to 151,769 for March, while the pace of single-detached urban starts fell 16 percent to 40,776, while the annual rate of rural starts was estimated at 21,320 units for the month.

The six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR was 240,669 in March, down six per cent from 254,658 in February.

“Despite the national decline in March, the SAAR of housing starts and the trend appears to be returning to pre-pandemic levels. With interest rates remaining high, it continues to be challenging for developers and homebuilders to get projects started. We will need to find innovative ways to deliver more housing supply to keep up with demand and ultimately improve affordability,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist in the news release.

(Reported by Asha Bajaj)