Housing Starts statistics released out of Canada today fell for the sixth consecutive month in February according to a report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Canadian housing starts dropped by 12.3 
percent in February to an annual rate of 134,600 units. February’s data follows an annual rate of 153,500 units in January.
Today’s report brings Canada’s housing starts to their lowest level since 2000 and surpassed economic forecasts that were expecting housing starts to fall to the 148,500 annual level.
Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre commented in the report on the real estate market saying, “Increased listings and reduced sales in the existing home market continue to impact the new home market.”
On the housing starts decline, Dugan said that, “The decrease in February housing starts is partly attributable to the volatile multiple starts segment. In any given month and given its relative importance, the volatility of the multiple starts segment can exaggerate monthly movements up or down in the rate of housing starts.”
Canadian Loonie mixed in currency trading today.
The Canadian loonie dollar has been mixed today in the currency trading markets against most of the major currencies. The loonie has gained versus the New Zealand dollar, Australian dollar and British pound while falling to the euro, US dollar and Japanese yen.
The US dollar advanced today to trading over 1.3000 loonie per usd today for the first time since December after opening today’s trading at the exchange rate of 1.2865. The USD/CAD pair has retreated from its highs today to trading at 1.2996 at 4:23pm EST according to currency data from Oanda.
The euro has gained ground against the loonie as the EUR/CAD trades at 1.6381 after opening the day at 1.6309. The Canadian dollar has also lost ground to the Japanese yen as the CAD/JPY has fallen from its 76.19 opening to trading at 76.02 later today.
On the positive side for the loonie, the British pound has fallen considerably today versus the loonie as the GBP/CAD currency pair trades at 1.7912 after opening the day at 1.8180. The Australian and New Zealand dollars have also declined against the loonie as the AUD/CAD trades at 0.8204 from 0.8229 and the NZD/CAD trades at 0.6401 from its 0.6463 opening.
USD/CAD Chart – The US Dollar gaining versus the Canadian Dollar today and reached above the 1.3000 level for the first time since December.
