The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released housing starts data on Friday. Housing starts in Canada fell to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 204,251 units in March from 219,077 units in February. February's figure was revised up from 212,594 units.

Housing starts were mainly driven by a drop in the multi-unit segment.

"Overall, starts were trending lower in March due to a slowdown in multi-unit construction. This was the case across the country, except in British Columbia where declining inventories of new and unsold units as well as low levels of new listings in the resale market spurred builders to start new projects," the CMHC's Chief Economist Bob Dugan said.