UNSPLASH/Sandy Millar
Consumer prices continue to cool in Canada, the country’s statistics agency reported Tuesday.

Housing starts in Canada declined 9 percent in June on slowing construction of apartments in Toronto and Vancouver, the country’s housing agency said.

Builders broke ground on 241,672 units last month, compared with 264,929 units in May, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday in a statement. Those figures are based on seasonally adjusted annual rates. Economists had forecast June housing starts to come in at 255,000.

Actual starts were down 60 per cent in Toronto and 55 per cent in Vancouver, CMHC said, citing “significant declines” in multi-unit construction. Starts in Montreal surged 226 per cent on “much higher” multi-unit construction.

“The higher interest rate environment appears to have caught up with some of Canada’s major centres as lower multi-unit starts, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto,” Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist, said in a statement. He added the agency expects “continued downward starts pressure across Canada throughout 2024.”