Canada's housing starts continue to see regional impacts in May

OTTAWA, ON, June 8, 2020 /CNW/ - CMHC's monthly Starts and Completions Survey (SCS) for April was conducted in each province with the exception of Québec, following the introduction of pandemic measures in the province in late March. Residential construction in Québec resumed on April 20. We have resumed the SCS in Québec in May. This press release includes national housing starts totals without Québec in order to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic where the SCS survey was conducted in both April and May.

Bob Dugan, Chief Economist, CMHC (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

Housing Starts in Canada - All Areas (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

The trend in housing starts was 196,750 units in May 2020, down from 198,644 units in April 2020. Excluding Quebec, the trend was 151,072 units in May 2020, down from 155,600 units in April 2020. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

"Outside of Quebec, the national trend in housing starts decreased in May," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "Higher multi-family starts in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces were offset by declines in British Columbia and the Prairies. We expect national starts to continue to register declines in the near term, reflecting the impact of COVID-19 measures."

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of Canada's housing market. In some situations, analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as they are largely driven by the multi-unit segment of the market which can vary significantly from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada excluding Quebec saw a decrease of 20.4% in May from April. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 21.6% in May. Multiple urban starts decreased by 27.2% while single-detached urban starts decreased by 3.9%.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 7,772 units excluding Quebec.

Preliminary Housing Starts data are also available in English and French through our website and through CMHC's Housing Market Information Portal. Our analysts are also available to provide further insight into their respective markets.

Like many other government organizations, businesses and individuals, we are closely following developments around COVID-19. The monthly release of our Preliminary Housing Starts data will continue as planned. CMHC will report any impact on our ability to collect housing data.

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

For more information, follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Preliminary Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
				Single-Detached				All Others				Total
				May 2019		May 2020	%	May 2019	May 2020		%	May 2019			May 2020		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.				37		19	-49	13	0		-100	50			19		-62
P.E.I.				23		17	-26	54	72		33	77			89		16
N.S.				117		124	6	150	164		9	267			288		8
N.B.				51		57	12	131	225		72	182			282		55
Atlantic				228		217	-5	348	461		32	576			678		18
Qc				680		972	43	3,477	4,289		23	4,157			5,261		27
Ont.				1,701		1,749	3	2,723	3,261		20	4,424			5,010		13
Man.				195		141	-28	511	156		-69	706			297		-58
Sask.				95		84	-12	87	91		5	182			175		-4
Alta.				779		647	-17	1,019	954		-6	1,798			1,601		-11
Prairies				1,069		872	-18	1,617	1,201		-26	2,686			2,073		-23
B.C.				723		587	-19	3,843	2,492		-35	4,566			3,079		-33
Canada (10,000+)				4,401		4,397	0	12,008	11,704		-3	16,409			16,101		-2
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission				47		36	-23	110	14		-87	157			50		-68
Barrie				14		106	##	13	10		-23	27			116		330
Belleville				58		18	-69	12	12		-	70			30		-57
Brantford				21		32	52	5	32		##	26			64		146
Calgary				294		262	-11	518	459		-11	812			721		-11
Edmonton				335		275	-18	260	395		52	595			670		13
Greater Sudbury				7		2	-71	4	2		-50	11			4		-64
Guelph				31		27	-13	16	0		-100	47			27		-43
Halifax				76		84	11	125	137		10	201			221		10
Hamilton				40		52	30	210	57		-73	250			109		-56
Kelowna				38		43	13	52	113		117	90			156		73
Kingston				31		12	-61	12	200		##	43			212		393
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo				61		52	-15	85	79		-7	146			131		-10
Lethbridge				23		11	-52	12	6		-50	35			17		-51
London				133		46	-65	54	94		74	187			140		-25
Moncton				17		18	6	101	153		51	118			171		45
Montréal				284		406	43	1,953	2,502		28	2,237			2,908		30
Oshawa				243		83	-66	152	95		-38	395			178		-55
Ottawa-Gatineau				279		334	20	878	686		-22	1,157			1,020		-12
Gatineau				42		52	24	457	275		-40	499			327		-34
Ottawa				237		282	19	421	411		-2	658			693		5
Peterborough				25		24	-4	89	13		-85	114			37		-68
Québec				94		172	83	669	842		26	763			1,014		33
Regina				11		11	-	12	31		158	23			42		83
Saguenay				33		23	-30	21	40		90	54			63		17
St. Catharines-Niagara				72		66	-8	124	29		-77	196			95		-52
Saint John				16		16	-	2	2		-	18			18		-
St. John's				26		11	-58	13	0		-100	39			11		-72
Saskatoon				76		65	-14	73	46		-37	149			111		-26
Sherbrooke				26		36	38	93	114		23	119			150		26
Thunder Bay				8		3	-63	8	24		200	16			27		69
Toronto				371		530	43	1,367	2,028		48	1,738			2,558		47
Trois-Rivières				26		36	38	38	121		218	64			157		145
Vancouver				334		241	-28	3,256	1,853		-43	3,590			2,094		-42
Victoria				57		55	-4	142	205		44	199			260		31
Windsor				57		52	-9	22	24		9	79			76		-4
Winnipeg				171		115	-33	486	138		-72	657			253		-61
Total				3,435		3,355	-2	10,987	10,556		-4	14,422			13,911		-4
Data based on 2016 Census Definitions. Source:  Market Analysis Centre, CMHC ## not calculable / extreme value

Preliminary Housing Start Data - Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
			Single-Detached					All Others						Total
			April 2020		May 2020		%	April 2020		May 2020			%	April 2020		May 2020				%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.			293		199		-32	1		0			-100	294		199				-32
P.E.I.			175		159		-9	432		864			100	607		1,023				69
N.S.			1,949		1,602		-18	454		1,959			331	2,403		3,561				48
N.B.			1,086		631		-42	1,193		2,552			114	2,279		3,183				40
Qc			0		8,572		##	0		47,746			##	0		56,318				##
Ont.			17,395		18,020		4	76,232		38,513			-49	93,627		56,533				-40
Man.			1,796		1,463		-19	4,524		1,872			-59	6,320		3,335				-47
Sask.			1,063		959		-10	1,392		1,092			-22	2,455		2,051				-16
Alta.			7,759		7,329		-6	15,729		11,434			-27	23,488		18,763				-20
B.C.			6,648		6,329		-5	21,041		29,827			42	27,689		36,156				31
Canada (10,000+)			38,164		45,263		19	120,998		135,859			12	159,162		181,122				14
Canada (All Areas)			43,900		53,912		23	122,574		139,540			14	166,477		193,453				16
Canada (10,000+ excluding Quebec)			38,164		36,691		-4	120,998		88,113			-27	159,162		124,804				-22
Canada (All Areas excluding Quebec)			43,900		42,345		-4	122,574		90,231			-26	166,477		132,576				-20
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission			358		332		-7	108		168			56	466		500				7
Barrie			989		946		-4	132		120			-9	1,121		1,066				-5
Belleville			651		149		-77	48		144			200	699		293				-58
Brantford			372		346		-7	1,644		384			-77	2,016		730				-64
Calgary			2,770		2,921		5	4,008		5,508			37	6,778		8,429				24
Edmonton			3,879		2,852		-26	10,560		4,740			-55	14,439		7,592				-47
Greater Sudbury			200		25		-88	24		24			-	224		49				-78
Guelph			259		256		-1	0		0			-	259		256				-1
Halifax			1,382		1,088		-21	120		1,644			##	1,502		2,732				82
Hamilton			377		547		45	516		684			33	893		1,231				38
Kelowna			367		438		19	216		1,356			##	583		1,794				208
Kingston			375		121		-68	156		2,400			##	531		2,521				375
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo			581		630		8	480		948			98	1,061		1,578				49
Lethbridge			168		135		-20	108		72			-33	276		207				-25
London			1,784		481		-73	1,740		1,128			-35	3,524		1,609				-54
Moncton			331		211		-36	1,008		1,836			82	1,339		2,047				53
Montréal			0		3,290		##	0		29,492			##	0		32,782				##
Oshawa			760		827		9	492		1,140			132	1,252		1,967				57
Ottawa-Gatineau			3,087		3,714		20	7,356		8,232			12	10,443		11,946				14
Gatineau			1		563		##	0		3,300			##	1		3,863				##
Ottawa			3,086		3,151		2	7,356		4,932			-33	10,442		8,083				-23
Peterborough			189		203		7	336		156			-54	525		359				-32
Québec			0		1,350		##	0		10,104			##	0		11,454				##
Regina			315		176		-44	732		372			-49	1,047		548				-48
Saguenay			0		178		##	0		480			##	0		658				##
St. Catharines-Niagara			949		879		-7	468		348			-26	1,417		1,227				-13
Saint John			247		168		-32	0		24			##	247		192				-22
St. John's			182		128		-30	0		0			-	182		128				-30
Saskatoon			619		678		10	576		552			-4	1,195		1,230				3
Sherbrooke			0		450		##	0		1,368			##	0		1,818				##
Thunder Bay			15		57		280	0		288			##	15		345				##
Toronto			2,336		5,365		130	58,560		24,336			-58	60,896		29,701				-51
Trois-Rivières			0		225		##	0		1,452			##	0		1,677				##
Vancouver			3,128		2,729		-13	12,012		22,236			85	15,140		24,965				65
Victoria			582		593		2	4,980		2,460			-51	5,562		3,053				-45
Windsor			416		552		33	360		288			-20	776		840				8
Winnipeg			1,516		1,134		-25	4,164		1,656			-60	5,680		2,790				-51
Data based on 2016 Census Definitions.  Source:  Market Analysis Centre, CMHC ## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Angelina Ritacco, Media Relations, CMHC, 416-218-3320, [email protected]

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