Canada's new home market is expected to continue to moderate into 2013, while the existing home market is forecast to hold steady and the value of building permits has fallen dramatically based on two sets of data released here Monday.

Housing starts will be as high as 216,600 units in 2012, with a mid-point estimate of 213,700 units, or 6,500 units higher than the August estimate, according to the fourth quarter Housing Market Outlook by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC).

Homebuilding will slow in 2013, with starts in the range of 177,300 to 209,900 units, with a mid-point estimate of 193,600 units.

"A weaker outlook for global economic conditions and the waning effect of pre-sales from late 2010 and early 2011, which contributed to support multi-family starts this year, will bring moderation in housing starts next year," explained Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at the Ottawa-based CMHC.

"Nevertheless employment growth and net migration will help support housing starts activity going forward," Laberge said.

Existing home sales will be as high as 465,600 units this year, with a mid-point forecast of 457,400 units, said Canada's national housing agency. Sales are expected to increase to 489,700 units next year, with a mid-point estimate of 461,500 units.

Existing home sales are expected to achieve a 0.2-percent gain in 2012 with a mid-point price of 365,100 Canadian dollars (367,583 U.S. dollars), or about 3,000 dollars (3,020 U.S. dollars) lower than the summer forecast, said the CMHC, which provides mortgage insurance to home buyers and market intelligence on Canada's real-estate industry.

Prices will slightly rise by 1.5 percent in 2013 with a mid-point price estimate of 370,500 dollars (373,019 U.S. dollars).

Meanwhile, the value of building permits across the country dropped by 13.2 percent to 6.5 billion dollars (6.544 billion U.S. dollars) in September, following a 9.5-percent gain a month earlier, reported Statistics Canada.

September's decline - the largest since a 23.7-percent decrease in April 2011 - was mainly the result of the non-residential sector where there were lower construction intentions for medical facilities and educational institutions in Canada's most populous province, Ontario, and for government buildings in Quebec, the country's French-speaking province.

However, the value of permits in the residential sector for single-family homes advanced by 3.4 percent to 2.5 billion dollars (2.517 billion U.S. dollars) in September, following two consecutive monthly declines.