Investing.com - Canadian housing starts rose unexpectedly in July, easing concerns over the health of the nation’s real estate sector, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts rose to 200,100 units last month from June’s total of 198,700 units.
Analysts had expected Canadian housing starts to decline to 193,000 units in July.
“The trend in construction has increased modestly in recent months due to in large part to multiple starts, which have strong variability from month-to-month,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist.
“Nevertheless, CMHC continues to expect a soft landing for the new home construction market in Canada,” he added.
Following the release of the data, the Canadian dollar was higher against its U.S. counterpart, with USD/CAD shedding 0.2% to trade at 1.0951.