The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 218,100 units in April, down from 251,700 units in March, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said today.

“Multiple starts gave back all the gains registered last month,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre, in a news release.

“In contrast to the volatility in multiple starts, the pace of single starts is slowing consistently as expected.”

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts declined 14.9% to 187,000 units. Urban multiple starts were down 21.5% to 96,500 units comparing April to March, while singles were down 6.4% to 90,500 units.

In April, urban housing starts declined in all regions. Strong declines in multiples pulled down urban starts by 24.7% in Quebec and 20.0% in the Prairies. In Ontario, total urban starts were down 12.2% with single urban starts declining more than multiples. The declines in the Atlantic region and British Columbia were relatively modest at 6.5% and 2.3% respectively.

Rural starts in April were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 31,100.

In the first four months of 2006, actual urban starts were up 8.3% when compared to the same period a year earlier. Nationally, year-to-date actual urban multiple starts were up 9.3% and singles were up 7.3% compared to the same period in 2005.