Canadian housing starts trended higher in October

OTTAWA, Nov. 17, 2020 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 222,734 units in October 2020, up from 214,372 units in September 2020, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

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 national trend in housing starts increased in October following a pause in September," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "Higher single-detached SAAR starts in October drove the overall trend higher, offsetting a second consecutive decline in monthly multi-family SAAR starts. Single-detached starts trended higher in several major centres, including Toronto and Montréal."

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 was 214,875 units in October, an increase of 3.0% from 208,715 units in September. The SAAR of urban starts increased by 3.5% in October to 202,584 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by a slight 0.2% to 144,796 units in October while single-detached urban starts increased by 14.3% to 57,788 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 12,291 units.

Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction 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.

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.

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Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
		Single-Detached			All Others			Total
		October 2019	October 2020	%	October 2019	October 2020	%	October 2019	October 2020	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.		53	49	-8	20	11	-45	73	60	-18
P.E.I.		30	35	17	66	15	-77	96	50	-48
N.S.		159	129	-19	60	51	-15	219	180	-18
N.B.		66	78	18	70	95	36	136	173	27
Atlantic		308	291	-6	216	172	-20	524	463	-12
Qc		512	776	52	4,177	3,543	-15	4,689	4,319	-8
Ont.		1,802	2,364	31	4,614	4,830	5	6,416	7,194	12
Man.		171	213	25	385	508	32	556	721	30
Sask.		105	138	31	104	67	-36	209	205	-2
Alta.		838	836	0	1,097	1,805	65	1,935	2,641	36
Prairies		1,114	1,187	7	1,586	2,380	50	2,700	3,567	32
B.C.		623	562	-10	2,108	1,771	-16	2,731	2,333	-15
Canada (10,000+)		4,359	5,180	19	12,701	12,696	0	17,060	17,876	5
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		25	31	24	169	86	-49	194	117	-40
Barrie		19	52	174	31	264	##	50	316	##
Belleville		44	44	-	2	64	##	46	108	135
Brantford		27	119	341	11	15	36	38	134	253
Calgary		282	316	12	536	666	24	818	982	20
Edmonton		378	396	5	444	1,074	142	822	1,470	79
Greater Sudbury		10	15	50	6	32	433	16	47	194
Guelph		14	26	86	39	99	154	53	125	136
Halifax		94	72	-23	22	35	59	116	107	-8
Hamilton		73	57	-22	637	457	-28	710	514	-28
Kelowna		44	31	-30	277	64	-77	321	95	-70
Kingston		26	35	35	21	36	71	47	71	51
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		84	78	-7	408	173	-58	492	251	-49
Lethbridge		39	30	-23	12	7	-42	51	37	-27
London		115	183	59	128	104	-19	243	287	18
Moncton		13	39	200	26	46	77	39	85	118
Montréal		221	300	36	2,428	1,795	-26	2,649	2,095	-21
Oshawa		44	100	127	37	233	##	81	333	311
Ottawa-Gatineau		327	363	11	869	567	-35	1,196	930	-22
Gatineau		34	98	188	496	84	-83	530	182	-66
Ottawa		293	265	-10	373	483	29	666	748	12
Peterborough		27	52	93	12	25	108	39	77	97
Québec		60	110	83	442	669	51	502	779	55
Regina		32	19	-41	25	24	-4	57	43	-25
Saguenay		20	21	5	93	37	-60	113	58	-49
St. Catharines-Niagara		170	114	-33	114	224	96	284	338	19
Saint John		19	18	-5	20	0	-100	39	18	-54
St. John's		43	41	-5	13	7	-46	56	48	-14
Saskatoon		65	110	69	51	32	-37	116	142	22
Sherbrooke		8	37	363	115	438	281	123	475	286
Thunder Bay		15	20	33	56	4	-93	71	24	-66
Toronto		404	714	77	2,258	2,287	1	2,662	3,001	13
Trois-Rivières		19	16	-16	99	64	-35	118	80	-32
Vancouver		305	263	-14	1,014	1,011	0	1,319	1,274	-3
Victoria		64	49	-23	263	241	-8	327	290	-11
Windsor		59	83	41	21	103	390	80	186	133
Winnipeg		131	186	42	284	390	37	415	576	39
Total		3,320	4,140	25	10,983	11,373	4	14,303	15,513	8
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
		September 2020	October 2020	%	September 2020	October 2020	%	September 2020	October 2020	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.		371	455	23	72	122	69	443	577	30
P.E.I.		241	314	30	252	180	-29	493	494	0
N.S.		1,647	1,586	-4	4,412	727	-84	6,059	2,313	-62
N.B.		1,209	813	-33	883	1,106	25	2,092	1,919	-8
Qc		7,204	9,000	25	40,245	36,668	-9	47,449	45,668	-4
Ont.		21,719	24,810	14	57,258	56,435	-1	78,977	81,245	3
Man.		2,007	2,328	16	1,284	6,096	375	3,291	8,424	156
Sask.		1,244	1,395	12	312	804	158	1,556	2,199	41
Alta.		8,264	10,076	22	16,395	21,356	30	24,659	31,432	27
B.C.		6,639	7,011	6	24,005	21,302	-11	30,644	28,313	-8
Canada (10,000+)		50,545	57,788	14	145,118	144,796	0	195,663	202,584	4
Canada (All Areas)		58,908	66,037	12	149,808	148,839	-1	208,715	214,875	3
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		440	395	-10	636	1,032	62	1,076	1,427	33
Barrie		821	624	-24	72	3,168	##	893	3,792	325
Belleville		422	405	-4	144	768	433	566	1,173	107
Brantford		530	1,612	204	612	180	-71	1,142	1,792	57
Calgary		3,066	3,845	25	8,700	7,992	-8	11,766	11,837	1
Edmonton		3,939	4,523	15	6,420	12,888	101	10,359	17,411	68
Greater Sudbury		98	148	51	96	384	300	194	532	174
Guelph		191	414	117	48	1,188	##	239	1,602	##
Halifax		1,099	868	-21	4,176	420	-90	5,275	1,288	-76
Hamilton		92	673	##	2,616	5,484	110	2,708	6,157	127
Kelowna		457	423	-7	588	768	31	1,045	1,191	14
Kingston		342	532	56	2,244	432	-81	2,586	964	-63
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		977	827	-15	6,780	2,076	-69	7,757	2,903	-63
Lethbridge		320	299	-7	132	84	-36	452	383	-15
London		1,863	2,338	25	2,604	1,248	-52	4,467	3,586	-20
Moncton		370	422	14	360	552	53	730	974	33
Montréal		3,008	3,313	10	29,567	21,489	-27	32,575	24,802	-24
Oshawa		1,117	1,037	-7	2,628	2,796	6	3,745	3,833	2
Ottawa-Gatineau		3,264	3,531	8	14,040	6,804	-52	17,304	10,335	-40
Gatineau		799	1,035	30	3,612	1,008	-72	4,411	2,043	-54
Ottawa		2,465	2,496	1	10,428	5,796	-44	12,893	8,292	-36
Peterborough		122	495	306	72	300	317	194	795	310
Québec		997	1,252	26	7,932	8,028	1	8,929	9,280	4
Regina		413	190	-54	132	288	118	545	478	-12
Saguenay		192	205	7	192	444	131	384	649	69
St. Catharines-Niagara		934	989	6	936	2,688	187	1,870	3,677	97
Saint John		330	208	-37	408	0	-100	738	208	-72
St. John's		283	373	32	48	84	75	331	457	38
Saskatoon		812	1,080	33	108	384	256	920	1,464	59
Sherbrooke		353	394	12	1,920	5,256	174	2,273	5,650	149
Thunder Bay		89	143	61	24	48	100	113	191	69
Toronto		7,370	8,770	19	25,644	27,444	7	33,014	36,214	10
Trois-Rivières		128	182	42	360	768	113	488	950	95
Vancouver		2,765	2,883	4	18,708	12,132	-35	21,473	15,015	-30
Victoria		657	535	-19	1,656	2,892	75	2,313	3,427	48
Windsor		756	876	16	1,596	1,236	-23	2,352	2,112	-10
Winnipeg		1,647	2,266	38	876	4,680	434	2,523	6,946	175
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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