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OTTAWA — The pace of housing starts across Canada picked up in January compared with December, fuelled by multi-unit projects such as condominiums and apartments.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 207,408 units in January, up from 206,305 in December, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported Wednesday.

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“Canadian housing just won’t quit,” wrote Nick Exarhos of CIBC Economics in a note this morning. “Although we see a slowdown later on in 2017, permit figures suggest that we could be in store for a few more strong readings yet.”

Economists had expected the annual rate to come in at 200,000, according to Thomson Reuters.

January’s stronger-than-expected housing starts follow a year that saw a record number of Canadian home resales, noted Royal Bank senior economist Nathan Janzen.

“The recent strength in housing starts has been largely concentrated in Ontario, where resale markets have also been the hottest in recent months (and January temperatures were warmer than usual), Janzen wrote in a report.