Housing starts edged by estimates in November, rising to 254K on a rebound in multi-unit activity.

On a Y/Y basis the print was pretty strong, with the exception of continued weakness in Ontario and BC…

… but that’s not the real story here. While new unit construction continues to inch lower, multi-unit absorption has fallen off a cliff - dropping nearly 20 percentage points over the past two prints.

The amount of pre-construction investments that are deep out of the money is a likely factor, which should drive a continued build in inventories from here.