Housing starts in Canada cooled off in October, as the seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts slipped to a still healthy 206,700 units, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said today.

That was a drop from the annual rate of 229,600 starts in September.

The rate of starts in urban areas fell 11.4% to 177,100 units in October with declines in both single and multiple starts.

The more volatile multiple-unit segment dropped 14.6% to 88,300 units, while single-unit starts declined 7.9% to 88,800 units in October compared with September, CMHC said.

Urban housing starts were down across all regions except for the Atlantic provinces in October. Housing starts year-over-year were down 16.9% in Ontario, 15.4% in the Prairies, 12.3% in Quebec, and 1.1% in British Columbia.

In the Atlantic region, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts rose 16.7%.

Rural starts last month came in at a seasonal annual rate of 29,600 down 200 units from September.

Despite the overall slowdown in October, CMHC said the overall level of starts remains relatively high. “Housing starts across Canada have now been above the 200,000 level for 29 consecutive months,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC’s market analysis centre, in a release.

“Low mortgage rates and full-time job creation continue to be a boon for new home construction,” he said.