Canada’s annual pace of housing starts dropped by nine per cent in June.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 241,672 units.

That was compared to 264,929 units in May, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Chief Economist Bob Dugan said the higher interest rate environment appears to have caught up with some of Canada’s major centres.

“We expect continued downward starts pressure across Canada throughout 2024,” Dugan said in a news release.

Figures provided by the corporation show the annual rate of urban starts decreased nine per cent to 223,234.

Multi-unit urban starts fell 12 per cent to 180,205 units, while single-detached urban starts were up two per cent to 43,029 units.

The annual rate of rural starts was estimated to be around 18,438 units, according to the corporation.

Meanwhile, the six-month trend in housing starts saw a 0.4 per cent decrease, from 248,260 units in May to 247,205 units in June.

June’s actual number of housing starts in urban centres was down 13 per cent to 20,509 units.