THE TAKEAWAY: Canada housing starts jumped to 198.0K > Housing increase in rural areas contributed the most > USD/CAD Weakened
Housing starts in Canada rose for the first time since September according to a report released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation today. The reading of housing starts in December came out at 198,000 on a seasonally adjusted annual basis, beating 195,000 which was the median forecast of economists surveyed by the Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, the housing figure in November was revised upwardly to 201,400 from 196,100 initially reported. New starts fell 1.7 percent from a year ago, compared with November’s year-on-year loss of 1.0 percent.
Housing increase in rural areas contributed the most to the total advance, up 5.0 percent in December, while the outcome in urban areas fell 0.1 percent in the same period. The better-than-expected housing starts in Canada may indicate that the country’s real estate market is likely to head for a soft landing rather than a crash. Coupled with the unexpected drop in unemployment rate earlier this month, more signs are added to the recovery of Canada’s market.
USD/CAD 1-minute Chart: January 9, 2013
Chart created using Market Scope – Prepared by Renee Mu
In the minutes after the housing report was released, the Canadian dollar soared against its peers, with USD/CADfalling from C$0.9874 to C$0.9871. At the time this report was written, the USDCAD pair was trading lower at C$0.9869.
--- Written by Renee Mu DailyFX Research
