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It’s the year of the condo for Canada’s housing market.

Construction of multiple units as a share of total new housing starts is at the highest level since 1971, data from Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. show, as builders in Toronto and Vancouver press ahead with new development.

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The condo boom — fuelled in part by affordability issues in Canada’s two priciest markets — is helping offset a slump in construction of single detached homes across the country.

The market may be experiencing an “affordability-based transition of demand from singles to multiples,” Bob Dugan, chief economist at the Ottawa-based housing agency, said in a telephone interview Tuesday, citing a “growing price gap” between detached homes and condominiums.