Canadian housing starts likely to average between 180k-to-190k range in 2016

Canadian Housing Starts data for January which was originally scheduled to be released on Monday was released early by CMHC. Data showed that Canadian housing starts fell further to 165,900 annualized units in January from 173k in the prior month despite favourable weather in parts of the country.

Prior month data was revised slightly higher. It should be noted however that housing starts numbers are notoriously volatile, and we've seen similar sharp declines in each of the prior three years that proved to be brief. Declines averaged pace of 203k in second half of 2015.

"We're expecting to see another year in the 180k-to-190k range in 2016. The difference will be the composition, with demand moving briskly away from oil-producing regions." said BMP Capital Markets in a report.