Canada q2 housing starts augur well for growth

Canadian housing starts for June surged well past market expectations, adding to two months of upward revisions, monthly data showed on Monday, raising expectations for second-quarter economic growth.

Starts in June rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 197,400 units from an upwardly revised 194,100 in May, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp said.

That made for a 1.7 percent increase from the previous month after the unexpectedly robust upward revision from an originally reported pace of nearly 184,000 units in May. Market analysts had predicted virtually no Change in June starts.

April starts were also revised higher, to 194,100 units from 179,000.

Source: Reuters.com