Canadian Housing Starts (SEP)
Expected: 220,000
Previous: 232,700 (R+)
Canadian fundamentals were clearly stellar last month. On the back of last Friday's far better than expected employment report, Tuesday's housing starts report far surpassed economists expectations. The official consensus was actually calling for a decline in construction activity. Instead, the market recieved a 45,500 increase in starts over the upwardly revised August September. At 278,200 starts, this was the highest reading for this indicator's series since 1978. Looking to the breakdown from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the jump was fully accountable to the urban sector. The rural component was unchanged at 33,800. Single family, city dwellings actually dropped 4,100 units; while those multi-family homes increased a staggering 49,600 units. Looking at the breakdown along regional axes, Quebec's 19,400 home-increase and Ontario's 14,900 pick up accounted for the bulk of the increase.
In the minutes after the housing report, USDCAD was only 15 points lower with the market initially showing a tepid response to the considerable improvement.
