Josh Nye, a senior economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, notes that the Canadian housing starts were close to expectations, dropping to 202,000 annualized units in May from 233,000 in April.

• “The six-month trend was also 202k, which is the slowest pace in more than two years.
• May’s pullback was concentrated in multi-unit starts though the trend in that component remains solid.
• A separate report saw building permits jump to their highest level since 2005, largely due to a surge in BC ahead of an increase in development costs in Vancouver.
• We expect starts will continue to slow gradually as the year progresses, albeit remaining at fairly solid levels thanks to ongoing strength in the multi-unit segment.”