According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., the seasonally adjusted annual rate – where monthly figures are adjusted to remove normal seasonal variations and multiplied by 12 to reflect annual levels – of housing starts reached 186,300 units in January 2010. This is an increase from an annual rate of 176,100 units in December 2009.
According to final figures, actual housing starts for 2009 totalled 149,081 units, with activity improving as the year progressed. British Columbia led the country as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts in the province increased by 19.8 per cent, while the Prairie region lagged behind as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased by 4.8 per cent.
At 3 p.m. the Canadian dollar was trading lower against the U.S. dollar at 0.9328.
Market report prepared by Bruce Hauser
Accu-Rate Corp.
http://accu-rate.ca
