Dive Brief:

• Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.—Canada's equivalent of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac— says in its latest forecast that home building will slow for the rest of this year and more next year.
• The company, in its third quarterly forecast of the year, raised the number of housing starts it expects this year – 184,800 – and next year – 183,100 – from its last forecast, but it still sees business declining overall from the recent past.
• CMHC foresees existing-home sales rising through next year and predicted the average home price would be up 4.5% by the end of this year and 1.8% in 2015 as builders switch from construction to selling off inventory.

Dive Insight:

The government-owned company's chief economist, Bob Dugan, said demographic trends have generally supported recent increases in annual housing starts, but that tailwind appears to be dissipating.