Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts fell in February compared with January.

The housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts slipped to 210,069 units in February compared with 214,031 in January.

Economists on average had expected an annual pace of 205,000 for February, according to financial markets data firm Refinitiv.

Urban starts fell 1.9% in February to 199,304 units on a seasonally adjusted annualized basis. The annual rate of multi-unit urban starts, such as apartments, condos and townhouses, fell 6.1% to 146,072 units, while urban starts of single-detached homes rose 11.9% to 53,232.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10,765 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates was 208,525 in February compared with 211,153 in January.