Canada’s housing starts likely to have eased in July

Canadian housing starts data for July is set to be released tomorrow. According to a TD Economics research report, housing starts are expected to have eased to a 230k pace in July due to a pullback in multi-unit construction. Multi-unit housing starts rose sharply by 46 percent in June, a move that is not expected to be sustained despite a stable trend higher in permit issuance.

Region wise, Toronto is expected to have seen a sharp deceleration, but there is scope for a partial rebound in Vancouver where construction has decelerated to its weakest rate since 2016. Single family starts are expected to have seen little change, permitting the more volatile multi-unit component to drive the headline print.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was neutral at 31.1537, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bearish at -143.651. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex