Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in May climbed 10 per cent compared with April, helped by gains in Montreal and Toronto.

The housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in May amounted to 264,506 units, up from 241,111 in April.

The move came as the annual pace of starts in Montreal more than doubled with an increase of 104 per cent and Toronto gained 47 per cent, both boosted by multi-unit starts. The pace of starts in Vancouver for May fell 32 per cent compared with April.

CMHC says the overall annual pace of urban housing starts was 246,111 units in Canada, up 11 per cent from 221,376 in April. The annual pace of multi-unit urban starts increased 13 per cent to 203,141, while single-detached urban starts rose two per cent to 42,970.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of rural starts was estimated at 18,395.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate was up 3.8 per cent at 247,830 units in May compared with 238,859 units in April.