New home construction in Richmond Hill, Ontario.Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail
A big month-to-month jump in multi-unit housing construction is being credited with a higher rate of Canadian housing starts in February.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says its seasonally adjusted rate of housing starts rose to 180,719 units in February, up from 158,998 in January.
The main reason for the increase in housing construction was an 18.4 per cent rise in urban starts, led by a 27.7 per cent increase in multiple-unit dwellings such as condos and apartments.
The actual number of housing starts last month, without seasonal adjustments, was down year-to-year.
There were 10,965 starts last month, down from 12,247 in February 2012.