Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in Canada edged down 1% in August compared with July.

The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in August came in at 252,787 units compared with 255,232 in July.

The decrease came as the rate of urban housing starts fell 1% to 233,075 units in August.

The pace of multi-unit urban starts decreased 1% to 191,250, while the rate of single-detached urban starts rose 2% to 41,825.

The annual rate of rural starts was estimated at 19,712.

The six-month moving average of the overall monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 244,507 units in August, up 0.8% from 242,552 in July.

Source: The Canadian Press