Housing Starts Increase 8 Percent Across Canada: CMHC

A home sold in Vancouver in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

Construction on new homes rose 8 percent in October, still below what is needed for affordability, says the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Numbers released by CMHC show housing starts for all areas in Canada increased from 223,391 units in September to 240,761 units in October, according to a Nov. 18 news release.

The data was based on a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts across the country.

CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan said the numbers are well below what is required to restore affordability in Canadian cities.

Some parts of Canada are seeing more movement on housing starts than others, he said.

“We continue to see higher activity in the Prairie provinces, Québec and the Atlantic provinces, while Ontario and British Columbia have seen declines in all housing types,” he said in the news release.

He said the increase in the seasonally adjusted rate in Toronto and Vancouver is a promising sign, and these areas are driving the national increase.

Urban locations with a population of 10,000 or more saw a total of 223,111 units or 6 percent increase. Multi-unit starts in urban centres increased 7 percent (175,705), and single-detached urban starts rose by 1 percent (47,406 units), according to the news release.

Rural starts in October were estimated at 17,650 units.

Year-to-date housing starts in Toronto dropped 21 percent from 2023. CMHC noted that last year was a historically high year in the city.

In Vancouver, housing starts fell 18 percent over 2023 numbers. However, CMHC again noted that 2023 was a record-high year for the industry there.

Montreal saw a 12 percent increase in housing starts since January, compared to the same period last year. CMHC said that 2023 was a low year for home construction in Montreal.

Provincial Numbers

Some provinces did better than others between September and October, with New Brunswick and Saskatchewan seeing a decrease of 38 percent and 17 percent respectively.

Prince Edward Island saw the largest increase in housing starts between the two months, with a 221 percent jump, from 418 housing starts to 1,340 in October.

Manitoba also saw a large increase in housing starts in the province, with a 56 percent jump between the two months.

Newfoundland and Labrador saw housing starts increase by 45 percent. Alberta saw a 16 percent increase, and Nova Scotia’s housing starts jumped 7 percent.

Provincially, Ontario saw a 5 percent increase. Quebec’s housing starts rose by 4 percent.

There was no statistical change in B.C. with 40,580 housing starts in September to 40,487 in October.