WATERLOO REGION — Housing starts in Waterloo Region dipped in November, mainly due to a decline in construction of row houses.

Builders started work on 222 housing units last month in the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo census metropolitan area, down from 286 in November 2015, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Thursday.

They poured foundations for 97 single-detached homes, up from 94 a year earlier. Work started on apartments containing 95 units, down from 106 in November 2015.

Twenty-eight row houses were started last month, down from 84 a year ago. Work started on two semi-detached homes, the same as a year ago.

The housing corporation said starts in the region were trending at an annual rate of 4,334 in November, down slightly from 4,408 in October.

It noted that in the last three months starts have trended above the average for the year.

“Job and wage growth, in-migration and a very tight resale market have translated into strong demand for new homes,” Erica McLerie, senior market analyst with the corporation, said in a news release.

Nationally, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts fell to 183,989 units in November, down four per cent from 192,297 units in October.

In urban areas of Ontario, the seasonally adjusted rate of starts declined to 55,232 units, down 32 per cent from the previous month.

That’s in contrast to urban areas of B.C., which saw an increase of 73 per cent to 44,019 units.

RBC economist Josh Nye said he anticipates the decline in home construction will continue next year, with starts falling by about 10 per cent as recent mortgage rule tightening by Ottawa causes existing home sales to fall.