Canadian housing starts fall 13% in December -CMHC

TORONTO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Canadian housing starts fell 13% in December compared with the previous month as groundbreaking decreased on multiple unit and single-family detached urban homes, data from the national housing agency showed on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 231,468 units from a revised 267,140 units in November, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said. Economists had expected starts to fall to 245,000.

For 2024, starts were up 2% compared to 2023, helped by historically high rental construction levels.

(Reporting by Fergal Smith, Editing by William Maclean)

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