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TORONTO — Canadian housing starts slipped in October from a strong level in September, suggesting a long-awaited slowdown in homebuilding may have begun, a report from the national housing agency showed on Thursday.

The report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp showed the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 198,065 in October from an upwardly revised 231,304 in September. Forecasters had expected 200,000 starts.

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The drop in groundbreaking on new homes was led by a decline in multiple units — typically condos — and was spread across all regions except for British Columbia, the report showed.

“After ramping up in late summer, Canadian homebuilding activity took a bit of a breather in October,” Benjamin Reitzes, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in a research note.

“While the pullback in starts suggests that housing might be a bit of drag on GDP growth in Q4, the decline was welcome as it will ease concerns about overbuilding ignited by the big prints in August and September,” he said.