Canadian housing starts trended lower in August

OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 16, 2021 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 283,971 units in August 2021, down from 286,076 units in July 2021, 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.

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

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

"The six-month trend in housing starts declined from July to August, with total starts continuing to retreat from their highs earlier this year," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "In August, both single-detached and multi-family SAAR starts were lower in Canada's urban areas, resulting in a decline in overall SAAR starts for the month. However, on a trend and monthly SAAR basis, the level of starts activity remains elevated by historical standards. Among Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Toronto was the only market to register growth in total SAAR starts in August, due to modest growth in the multi-family segment."

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 was 260,239 units in August, a decrease of 3.9% from 270,744 units in July. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 4.7% in August to 235,782 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 5.7% to 173,120 units in August, while single-detached urban starts decreased by 2% to 62,662 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 24,457 units.

Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction Data  are accessible in English and French on our website and the CMHC Housing Market Information Portal. Housing starts data is available on the eleventh business day each month. We will release the September data on October 18 at 8:15 AM ET.

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
			August 2020		August 2021		%		August 2020		August 2021			%		August 2020		August 2021		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.			71		59		-17		5		3			-40		76		62		-18
P.E.I.			25		31		24		144		37			-74		169		68		-60
N.S.			151		106		-30		148		70			-53		299		176		-41
N.B.			78		111		42		288		197			-32		366		308		-16
Atlantic			325		307		-6		585		307			-48		910		614		-33
Qc			442		543		23		3,214		2,565			-20		3,656		3,108		-15
Ont.			2,125		2,630		24		7,993		6,329			-21		10,118		8,959		-11
Man.			158		261		65		237		296			25		395		557		41
Sask.			85		132		55		120		41			-66		205		173		-16
Alta.			722		1,250		73		1,015		1,410			39		1,737		2,660		53
Prairies			965		1,643		70		1,372		1,747			27		2,337		3,390		45
B.C.			645		673		4		2,867		2,950			3		3,512		3,623		3
Canada (10,000+)			4,502		5,796		29		16,031		13,898			-13		20,533		19,694		-4
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission			35		23		-34		89		26			-71		124		49		-60
Barrie			69		89		29		4		248			##		73		337		362
Belleville			40		45		13		5		50			##		45		95		111
Brantford			146		94		-36		56		196			250		202		290		44
Calgary			211		524		148		525		586			12		736		1,110		51
Edmonton			371		521		40		454		755			66		825		1,276		55
Greater Sudbury			23		8		-65		12		2			-83		35		10		-71
Guelph			19		19		-		0		12			##		19		31		63
Halifax			84		32		-62		106		11			-90		190		43		-77
Hamilton			77		61		-21		235		638			171		312		699		124
Kelowna			45		57		27		158		369			134		203		426		110
Kingston			21		43		105		62		14			-77		83		57		-31
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo			97		86		-11		103		384			273		200		470		135
Lethbridge			31		27		-13		5		21			320		36		48		33
London			168		201		20		68		209			207		236		410		74
Moncton			16		28		75		127		179			41		143		207		45
Montréal			170		155		-9		1,984		1,982			0		2,154		2,137		-1
Oshawa			71		137		93		647		146			-77		718		283		-61
Ottawa-Gatineau			303		287		-5		1,472		648			-56		1,775		935		-47
Gatineau			8		32		300		149		34			-77		157		66		-58
Ottawa			295		255		-14		1,323		614			-54		1,618		869		-46
Peterborough			31		54		74		68		158			132		99		212		114
Québec			60		35		-42		721		135			-81		781		170		-78
Regina			19		49		158		63		9			-86		82		58		-29
Saguenay			15		49		227		2		19			##		17		68		300
St. Catharines-Niagara			101		134		33		102		63			-38		203		197		-3
Saint John			14		29		107		24		2			-92		38		31		-18
St. John's			61		47		-23		4		3			-25		65		50		-23
Saskatoon			58		75		29		51		22			-57		109		97		-11
Sherbrooke			24		28		17		120		110			-8		144		138		-4
Thunder Bay			5		10		100		0		0			-		5		10		100
Toronto			491		776		58		4,752		3,253			-32		5,243		4,029		-23
Trois-Rivières			12		22		83		12		6			-50		24		28		17
Vancouver			312		253		-19		2,208		1,650			-25		2,520		1,903		-24
Victoria			43		59		37		181		513			183		224		572		155
Windsor			55		58		5		113		76			-33		168		134		-20
Winnipeg			129		217		68		198		273			38		327		490		50
Total			3,427		4,332		26		14,731		12,768			-13		18,158		17,100		-6
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
				July 2021		August 2021		%		July 2021		August 2021	%		July 2021		August 2021		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.				432		531		23		256		38	-85		688		569		-17
P.E.I.				482		333		-31		900		444	-51		1,382		777		-44
N.S.				1,383		1,069		-23		3,550		797	-78		4,933		1,866		-62
N.B.				1,035		928		-10		3,278		2,355	-28		4,313		3,283		-24
Qc				8,510		8,206		-4		50,825		40,052	-21		59,335		48,258		-19
Ont.				26,435		26,518		0		64,260		73,242	14		90,695		99,760		10
Man.				2,891		2,969		3		3,144		3,552	13		6,035		6,521		8
Sask.				1,257		1,502		19		1,068		492	-54		2,325		1,994		-14
Alta.				13,800		13,255		-4		16,809		16,624	-1		30,609		29,879		-2
B.C.				7,688		7,351		-4		39,480		35,524	-10		47,168		42,875		-9
Canada (10,000+)				63,913		62,662		-2		183,570		173,120	-6		247,483		235,782		-5
Canada (All Areas)				81,257		80,747		-1		189,483		179,493	-5		270,744		260,239		-4
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission				269		253		-6		228		312	37		497		565		14
Barrie				589		567		-4		2,820		2,976	6		3,409		3,543		4
Belleville				389		434		12		48		600	##		437		1,034		137
Brantford				115		407		254		0		2,352	##		115		2,759		##
Calgary				6,102		5,901		-3		10,800		7,032	-35		16,902		12,933		-23
Edmonton				6,055		5,515		-9		5,208		9,060	74		11,263		14,575		29
Greater Sudbury				160		49		-69		264		24	-91		424		73		-83
Guelph				200		178		-11		1,884		144	-92		2,084		322		-85
Halifax				735		349		-53		2,688		132	-95		3,423		481		-86
Hamilton				889		546		-39		2,124		7,656	260		3,013		8,202		172
Kelowna				943		967		3		4,500		4,428	-2		5,443		5,395		-1
Kingston				385		467		21		192		168	-13		577		635		10
Kitchener-Cambridge- Waterloo				907		995		10		5,124		4,608	-10		6,031		5,603		-7
Lethbridge				480		329		-31		276		252	-9		756		581		-23
London				1,971		2,003		2		4,764		2,508	-47		6,735		4,511		-33
Moncton				312		294		-6		1,260		2,148	70		1,572		2,442		55
Montréal				2,707		2,377		-12		27,894		24,656	-12		30,601		27,033		-12
Oshawa				1,464		1,583		8		1,920		1,752	-9		3,384		3,335		-1
Ottawa-Gatineau				3,744		2,795		-25		4,644		7,776	67		8,388		10,571		26
Gatineau				980		309		-68		456		408	-11		1,436		717		-50
Ottawa				2,764		2,486		-10		4,188		7,368	76		6,952		9,854		42
Peterborough				446		417		-7		0		1,896	##		446		2,313		419
Québec				1,008		589		-42		15,636		1,620	-90		16,644		2,209		-87
Regina				392		508		30		288		108	-63		680		616		-9
Saguenay				196		425		117		192		228	19		388		653		68
St. Catharines-Niagara				1,293		1,396		8		864		756	-13		2,157		2,152		0
Saint John				244		269		10		1,056		24	-98		1,300		293		-77
St. John's				376		414		10		240		36	-85		616		450		-27
Saskatoon				792		958		21		588		264	-55		1,380		1,222		-11
Sherbrooke				621		674		9		888		1,320	49		1,509		1,994		32
Thunder Bay				125		65		-48		720		0	-100		845		65		-92
Toronto				8,134		7,788		-4		38,328		39,036	2		46,462		46,824		1
Trois-Rivières				259		383		48		1,056		72	-93		1,315		455		-65
Vancouver				2,581		2,523		-2		21,816		19,800	-9		24,397		22,323		-9
Victoria				785		813		4		6,444		6,156	-4		7,229		6,969		-4
Windsor				634		607		-4		432		912	111		1,066		1,519		42
Winnipeg				2,389		2,464		3		2,532		3,276	29		4,921		5,740		17
Data based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source:  Market Analysis Centre, CMHC
## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Audrey-Anne Coulombe, Media Relations, CMHC, 613-748-2573, [email protected]

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