Canada Housing Starts Rise to 222,771 in October

Canadian housing starts unexpectedly rose in October, marking the ninth month in 10 that housing starts exceeded the 200,000 level on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

Housing starts climbed 1.6% to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 222,771 units in October, up from 219,293 units in the previous month, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Wednesday. Market expectations were starts to come in at 211,000, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada.

Prior to the data release, economists at BMO Capital Markets said it expected housing starts to remain elevated because condominium builders are struggling to keep up with demand in Vancouver and Toronto -- because condos are "all most first-time buyers can afford" in those two cities given elevated housing prices.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 08, 2017 08:51 ET (13:51 GMT)