Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has reported the country’s trend measure of housing starts was 185,586 units in July compared to 184,035 in June.

The trend is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. CMHC uses this measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and to obtain a more complete picture of the state of Canada’s housing market.

The standalone monthly SAAR was 193,032 units in July, down from 202,338 units in June. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by almost six per cent in July to 176,998, as well as multi-unit urban starts, which decreased in July by just over eight per cent to 119,478. Single-detached urban starts decreased slightly by 0.8 per cent to 57,520 units and rural starts were estimated at a SAAR of 16,034 units.

“Housing starts in Canada have been trending higher over the past three months with gains in multiple starts offsetting declines in single starts,” said CMHC’s chief economist. Bob Dugan. “The decline in single starts is in line with CMHC’s expectations of buyers shifting demand away from higher priced new single-detached homes towards lower-priced alternatives. Gains in multiple starts are largely due to higher rental apartment starts, a substantial portion of which are seniors’ residences.”