Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in August slowed 22 percent compared with July.
The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 217,405 units in August, down from 279,804 a month earlier.
The drop came as the annual pace of urban starts fell 24 percent to 199,478 units compared with 261,043 in July.
The annual rate of starts of multi-unit urban projects such as apartments, condominiums and townhouses dropped 29 percent to 154,290 units, while the rate of single-detached urban starts rose three percent to 45,188.
The annual pace of rural starts was estimated at 17,927 units.
CMHC says the six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 248,480 units in August, down 2.9 percent from 255,794 in July.
