The Canadian Press

The annual rate of housing starts reached 174,500 units in December, up nearly 10,000 from November.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the improvement in housing starts was broad-based, with solid increases in both single and multiple starts to end the year.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased 6.6% to 157,100 units in December.

Urban multiple starts increased to 77,700 units from 72,800, while single urban starts increased 6.4% to 79,400 units in December.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,400 units in December.