OTTAWA -- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts ticked higher in October, boosted by construction of multi-unit homes.

The housing agency says housing starts for the month came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 222,771 units in October, up from 219,293 units in September.

The annualized pace of urban starts increased by 2.5 per cent in October to 205,935 units boosted by a 12.5 per cent jump in multiple urban starts to 149,593.

Single-detached urban starts fell 17.1 per cent to 56,342 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16,836 units.

The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts was 216,770 units in October, up from 215,153 units in September.