The trend for Canadian housing starts was steady in January with 208,131 units improving on December’s 207,171 units. CMHC’s latest 6-month moving average shows that things have snapped the recent trend towards fewer starts. “After recent declines, the national trend in housing starts held steady in January and remained above historical average,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “While single-detached starts continued to trend lower in January, this was offset by an uptick in the trend for multi-unit dwellings in urban centres. Vancouver – a tale of two cities. …Toronto – cost of borrowing to weaken demand. …Ottawa – lowest starts for 2 decades. …Quebec – should see stronger starts in 2019.