OTTAWA - Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the pace of housing starts fell in November for a third straight month.

The agency says there were 17,646 actual starts last month, which translates to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 196,125 units, down from 203,487 in October.

The decrease was mainly attributed to declines in single-detached and multi-unit housing construction in Ontario and British Columbia.

A 45.6 per cent drop in starts in Atlantic Canada was primarily due to a decrease in multi-unit housing construction in Halifax, following higher than normal activity in October.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts decreased by four per cent to 174,323 units in November, with urban single starts off by 5.4 per cent to 58,606 units and urban multiple starts down 3.2 per cent to 115,717 units.

November's seasonally adjusted annual rates of urban starts fell 14.3 per cent in Ontario and 16.5 per cent in British Columbia, but rose 15.4 per cent in Quebec and 16.1 per cent in the Prairies.