Canadian housing starts trended higher in January

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 15, 2021 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 244,963 units in January 2021, up from 238,747 units in December 2020. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

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

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

"The national trend in housing starts increased in January," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "Both single- and multi-family SAAR starts rebounded strongly in January from declines in December, driving the overall trend higher. Single-family starts were particularly strong in Montréal, reaching their highest level since February 2008."

Due to COVID-19, CMHC's monthly Starts and Completions Survey (SCS) for December 2020 was not conducted in the Kelowna CMA, it resumed in January 2021. This press release includes national housing starts totals without Kelowna in order to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic where the SCS survey was conducted in both December 2020 and January 2021. The national trend and month-to-month change in the SAAR level was very similar with and without Kelowna in December and January. We will continue to monitor the situation in each centre and adjust the SCS accordingly.

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 the multi-unit segment largely drives the market and can vary significantly from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada, excluding Kelowna CMA, was 281,389 units in January, an increase of 22.7% from 229,350 units in December. Including Kelowna CMA, the stand-alone monthly SAAR was 282,428 units in January, an increase of 23.1% from December.

Excluding Kelowna CMA, the SAAR of urban starts increased by 27.2% in January to 265,838 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 23.9% to 192,956 units in January while single-detached urban starts increased by 36.8% to 72,882 units.

Including Kelowna CMA, the SAAR of urban starts increased by a similar 27.7% in January to 266,877 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 24.1% to 193,328 units in January while single-detached urban starts increased by 38.1% to 73,549 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 15,551 units (with and without Kelowna CMA).

Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction Data  are accessible in English and French on our website and the CMHC Housing Market Information Portal. Our analysts are also available to provide further insight into their respective markets. Housing starts data is available on the eleventh business day each month. We will release February 2021 data on March 15 at 8:15 AM ET.

Today at 10 AM ET, we are releasing a new Housing Market Insight - Housing Starts in Major Canadian Urban Areas, where we look at the location and patterns of housing development in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver. We explore what factors are associated with these housing supply patterns and the level of housing completions using several metrics: distance from the city centre, transport choices, population density and family income. Our database of residential completions for the period 1990-2018 was used.

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.

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
			Single-Detached						All Others						Total
			January 2020		January 2021		%		January 2020		January 2021		%		January 2020		January 2021		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.			14		22		57		11		9		-18		25		31		24
P.E.I.			7		30		329		19		16		-16		26		46		77
N.S.			96		116		21		88		320		264		184		436		137
N.B.			20		32		60		37		102		176		57		134		135
Atlantic			137		200		46		155		447		188		292		647		122
Qc			211		556		164		2,936		3,821		30		3,147		4,377		39
Ont.			1,025		1,305		27		3,609		4,855		35		4,634		6,160		33
Man.			141		122		-13		360		534		48		501		656		31
Sask.			59		73		24		184		253		38		243		326		34
Alta.			603		799		33		811		1,271		57		1,414		2,070		46
Prairies			803		994		24		1,355		2,058		52		2,158		3,052		41
B.C.			348		602		73		1,530		1,941		27		1,878		2,543		35
B.C. (excluding Kelowna)			333		556		67		1,424		1,910		34		1,757		2,466		40
Canada (10,000+)			2,524		3,657		45		9,585		13,122		37		12,109		16,779		39
Canada (10,000+ excluding Kelowna)			2,509		3,611		44		9,479		13,091		38		11,988		16,702		39
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission			12		21		75		232		53		-77		244		74		-70
Barrie			12		31		158		4		221		##		16		252		##
Belleville			29		7		-76		115		14		-88		144		21		-85
Brantford			13		13		-		10		150		##		23		163		##
Calgary			259		344		33		383		778		103		642		1,122		75
Edmonton			276		369		34		391		433		11		667		802		20
Greater Sudbury			0		9		##		0		0		-		0		9		##
Guelph			8		15		88		43		2		-95		51		17		-67
Halifax			63		88		40		27		291		##		90		379		321
Hamilton			34		73		115		101		116		15		135		189		40
Kelowna			15		46		207		106		31		-71		121		77		-36
Kingston			7		7		-		6		106		##		13		113		##
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo			42		64		52		339		779		130		381		843		121
Lethbridge			15		23		53		5		8		60		20		31		55
London			81		161		99		255		34		-87		336		195		-42
Moncton			2		4		100		10		98		##		12		102		##
Montréal			91		231		154		2,016		2,322		15		2,107		2,553		21
Oshawa			19		65		242		26		33		27		45		98		118
Ottawa-Gatineau			120		218		82		491		443		-10		611		661		8
Gatineau			17		86		406		223		125		-44		240		211		-12
Ottawa			103		132		28		268		318		19		371		450		21
Peterborough			4		19		375		0		0		-		4		19		375
Québec			30		80		167		308		916		197		338		996		195
Regina			27		20		-26		41		30		-27		68		50		-26
Saguenay			6		24		300		63		30		-52		69		54		-22
St. Catharines-Niagara			54		58		7		93		113		22		147		171		16
Saint John			4		17		325		26		2		-92		30		19		-37
St. John's			13		22		69		10		8		-20		23		30		30
Saskatoon			29		50		72		138		214		55		167		264		58
Sherbrooke			11		28		155		182		82		-55		193		110		-43
Thunder Bay			1		1		-		0		0		-		1		1		-
Toronto			406		338		-17		2,112		2,573		22		2,518		2,911		16
Trois-Rivières			6		12		100		12		29		142		18		41		128
Vancouver			159		211		33		865		1,183		37		1,024		1,394		36
Victoria			33		73		121		13		143		##		46		216		370
Windsor			8		21		163		5		115		##		13		136		##
Winnipeg			126		103		-18		357		515		44		483		618		28
Total			2,015		2,866		42		8,785		11,865		35		10,800		14,731		36
Total (excluding Kelowna)			2,000		2,820		41		8,679		11,834		36		10,679		14,654		37
Data based on 2016 Census Definitions
Source:  Market Analysis Centre, CMHC
## not calculable / extreme value
Housing Start Data - Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
				Single-Detached						All Others						Total
				December 2020		January 2021		%		December 2020		January 2021		%		December 2020		January 2021		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.				504		523		4		85		109		28		589		632		7
P.E.I.				247		852		245		132		192		45		379		1,044		175
N.S.				1,547		1,825		18		4,216		3,929		-7		5,763		5,754		0
N.B.				1,038		1,115		7		5,324		1,805		-66		6,362		2,920		-54
Qc				7,698		19,206		149		41,084		75,225		83		48,782		94,431		94
Ont.				19,891		24,651		24		48,422		63,151		30		68,313		87,802		29
Man.				2,380		1,894		-20		4,032		6,408		59		6,412		8,302		29
Sask.				1,486		1,310		-12		1,536		3,036		98		3,022		4,346		44
Alta.				11,204		12,145		8		18,440		16,013		-13		29,644		28,158		-5
B.C.				7,269		10,028		38		32,515		23,460		-28		39,784		33,488		-16
B.C. (excluding Kelowna)				7,269		9,361		29		32,515		23,088		-29		39,784		32,449		-18
Canada (10,000+)				53,264		73,549		38		155,786		193,328		24		209,050		266,877		28
Canada (All Areas)				66,524		83,855		26		162,823		198,571		22		229,350		282,428		23
Canada (10,000+ excluding Kelowna)				53,264		72,882		37		155,786		192,956		24		209,050		265,838		27
Canada (All Areas excluding Kelowna)				66,524		83,188		25		162,823		198,199		22		229,350		281,389		23
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission				340		359		6		156		636		308		496		995		101
Barrie				510		761		49		72		2,652		##		582		3,413		486
Belleville				454		173		-62		168		168		-		622		341		-45
Brantford				657		477		-27		972		1,800		85		1,629		2,277		40
Calgary				4,772		4,899		3		5,256		9,336		78		10,028		14,235		42
Edmonton				4,825		5,827		21		12,108		5,196		-57		16,933		11,023		-35
Greater Sudbury				110		530		382		96		0		-100		206		530		157
Guelph				329		322		-2		1,044		24		-98		1,373		346		-75
Halifax				918		1,232		34		3,036		3,492		15		3,954		4,724		19
Hamilton				908		1,134		25		3,372		1,392		-59		4,280		2,526		-41
Kelowna				0		667		##		0		372		##		0		1,039		##
Kingston				249		246		-1		444		1,272		186		693		1,518		119
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo				719		937		30		2,988		9,348		213		3,707		10,285		177
Lethbridge				300		361		20		144		96		-33		444		457		3
London				1,920		3,600		88		912		408		-55		2,832		4,008		42
Moncton				295		239		-19		4,020		1,176		-71		4,315		1,415		-67
Montréal				2,313		8,177		254		31,554		29,320		-7		33,867		37,497		11
Oshawa				860		1,760		105		1,164		396		-66		2,024		2,156		7
Ottawa-Gatineau				3,103		5,107		65		9,744		5,316		-45		12,847		10,423		-19
Gatineau				596		1,618		171		2,976		1,500		-50		3,572		3,118		-13
Ottawa				2,507		3,489		39		6,768		3,816		-44		9,275		7,305		-21
Peterborough				337		508		51		0		0		-		337		508		51
Québec				630		2,521		300		4,764		10,992		131		5,394		13,513		151
Regina				537		257		-52		588		360		-39		1,125		617		-45
Saguenay				270		973		260		768		360		-53		1,038		1,333		28
St. Catharines-Niagara				1,700		1,105		-35		948		1,356		43		2,648		2,461		-7
Saint John				356		384		8		0		24		##		356		408		15
St. John's				413		446		8		72		96		33		485		542		12
Saskatoon				938		964		3		888		2,568		189		1,826		3,532		93
Sherbrooke				558		1,065		91		1,236		984		-20		1,794		2,049		14
Thunder Bay				20		96		380		0		0		-		20		96		380
Toronto				5,116		5,537		8		25,908		30,876		19		31,024		36,413		17
Trois-Rivières				164		305		86		396		348		-12		560		653		17
Vancouver				3,298		3,574		8		22,944		14,196		-38		26,242		17,770		-32
Victoria				1,009		1,078		7		3,288		1,716		-48		4,297		2,794		-35
Windsor				729		557		-24		648		1,380		113		1,377		1,937		41
Winnipeg				1,896		1,497		-21		2,148		6,180		188		4,044		7,677		90
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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