Matching a growing interest in Canadians to buy, housing starts surpassed forecasts and were up 6.1 per cent in February.
Starts on new houses rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 196,700 units in February from 185,400 units in January, according to CMHC figures. That's well above February last year when there were just 115,000 starts.
One of the largest jumps reported by the CMHC was in Saskatoon, where the number of starts quadrupled from last February from 25 to 127.
Starts were down significantly, however, in Gatineau, where there were 61 per cent less starts in February 2010, dropping to 75 from 190 last year. The Ottawa-Gatineau market is already tight, with one of the lower vacancy rates in the country.