Canadian housing starts trended lower in September

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 18, 2021 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 271,068 units in September 2021, down from 284,757 units in August 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.

September 2021 Housing Starts (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

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

"The six-month trend in housing starts declined from August to September, with total starts continuing to pull back from their earlier 2021 levels," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. "Single-detached and multi-family SAAR starts were both lower in Canada's urban areas in September, which led to a decline in overall SAAR starts for the month. On a trend and monthly SAAR basis, however, the level of housing starts activity in Canada remains high in historical terms. Among Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, Vancouver was the only market not to register growth in total SAAR starts in September, due to a decline 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 251,151 units in September, a decrease of 4.4% from 262,754 units in August. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 4.5% in September to 223,055 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 4% to 165,861 units in September, while single-detached urban starts decreased by 5.9% to 57,194 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 28,096 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 October data on November 16 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
			September 2020		September 2021		%		September 2020			September 2021		%		September 2020		September 2021		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.			43		55		28		6			14		133		49		69		41
P.E.I.			27		28		4		21			7		-67		48		35		-27
N.S.			187		272		45		381			136		-64		568		408		-28
N.B.			130		106		-18		82			100		22		212		206		-3
Atlantic			387		461		19		490			257		-48		877		718		-18
Qc			859		765		-11		4,122			4,595		11		4,981		5,360		8
Ont.			2,053		2,090		2		5,046			5,926		17		7,099		8,016		13
Man.			178		197		11		107			522		388		285		719		152
Sask.			124		99		-20		26			446		##		150		545		263
Alta.			781		1,125		44		1,384			1,027		-26		2,165		2,152		-1
Prairies			1,083		1,421		31		1,517			1,995		32		2,600		3,416		31
B.C.			607		715		18		2,005			1,977		-1		2,612		2,692		3
Canada (10,000+)			4,989		5,452		9		13,180			14,750		12		18,169		20,202		11
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission			43		36		-16		53			94		77		96		130		35
Barrie			63		100		59		6			109		##		69		209		203
Belleville			46		29		-37		12			7		-42		58		36		-38
Brantford			50		10		-80		51			0		-100		101		10		-90
Calgary			310		484		56		725			542		-25		1,035		1,026		-1
Edmonton			333		470		41		535			433		-19		868		903		4
Greater Sudbury			14		25		79		8			155		##		22		180		##
Guelph			15		16		7		4			0		-100		19		16		-16
Halifax			128		172		34		348			101		-71		476		273		-43
Hamilton			8		37		363		218			43		-80		226		80		-65
Kelowna			38		70		84		49			128		161		87		198		128
Kingston			37		25		-32		187			6		-97		224		31		-86
Kitchener-Cambridge- Waterloo			87		62		-29		565			168		-70		652		230		-65
Lethbridge			34		18		-47		11			9		-18		45		27		-40
London			172		195		13		217			238		10		389		433		11
Moncton			41		39		-5		30			27		-10		71		66		-7
Montréal			318		261		-18		2,510			2,652		6		2,828		2,913		3
Oshawa			100		111		11		219			166		-24		319		277		-13
Ottawa-Gatineau			370		402		9		1,170			998		-15		1,540		1,400		-9
Gatineau			124		88		-29		301			524		74		425		612		44
Ottawa			246		314		28		869			474		-45		1,115		788		-29
Peterborough			8		18		125		6			0		-100		14		18		29
Québec			89		72		-19		661			695		5		750		767		2
Regina			38		29		-24		11			51		364		49		80		63
Saguenay			15		4		-73		16			16		-		31		20		-35
St. Catharines-Niagara			59		143		142		78			162		108		137		305		123
Saint John			36		32		-11		34			48		41		70		80		14
St. John's			32		46		44		4			10		150		36		56		56
Saskatoon			78		59		-24		9			392		##		87		451		418
Sherbrooke			46		42		-9		160			227		42		206		269		31
Thunder Bay			13		17		31		2			0		-100		15		17		13
Toronto			654		494		-24		2,137			4,118		93		2,791		4,612		65
Trois-Rivières			17		30		76		30			120		300		47		150		219
Vancouver			257		289		12		1,559			925		-41		1,816		1,214		-33
Victoria			55		60		9		138			356		158		193		416		116
Windsor			77		33		-57		133			32		-76		210		65		-69
Winnipeg			142		163		15		73			499		##		215		662		208
Total			3,823		4,093		7		11,969			13,527		13		15,792		17,620		12
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
				August 2021		September 2021		%		August 2021	September 2021		%		August 2021		September 2021		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.				509		480		-6		40	152		280		549		632		15
P.E.I.				325		274		-16		444	84		-81		769		358		-53
N.S.				1,222		2,336		91		563	1,485		164		1,785		3,821		114
N.B.				905		972		7		2,429	1,122		-54		3,334		2,094		-37
Qc				7,407		6,720		-9		39,621	46,808		18		47,028		53,528		14
Ont.				25,714		22,526		-12		73,976	68,507		-7		99,690		91,033		-9
Man.				2,839		2,381		-16		3,636	6,264		72		6,475		8,645		34
Sask.				1,483		1,067		-28		408	5,352		##		1,891		6,419		239
Alta.				13,180		12,577		-5		16,565	12,416		-25		29,745		24,993		-16
B.C.				7,170		7,861		10		35,066	23,671		-32		42,236		31,532		-25
Canada (10,000+)				60,754		57,194		-6		172,748	165,861		-4		233,502		223,055		-4
Canada (All Areas)				80,363		76,707		-5		182,394	174,444		-4		262,754		251,151		-4
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission				258		343		33		312	1,128		262		570		1,471		158
Barrie				592		1,009		70		2,976	1,308		-56		3,568		2,317		-35
Belleville				423		289		-32		600	84		-86		1,023		373		-64
Brantford				486		110		-77		2,352	0		-100		2,838		110		-96
Calgary				5,770		5,133		-11		7,032	6,504		-8		12,802		11,637		-9
Edmonton				5,516		5,491		0		9,060	5,196		-43		14,576		10,687		-27
Greater Sudbury				49		166		239		24	1,860		##		73		2,026		##
Guelph				180		206		14		144	0		-100		324		206		-36
Halifax				300		1,415		372		132	1,212		##		432		2,627		##
Hamilton				575		435		-24		7,656	516		-93		8,231		951		-88
Kelowna				979		953		-3		4,428	1,536		-65		5,407		2,489		-54
Kingston				451		250		-45		168	72		-57		619		322		-48
Kitchener-Cambridge- Waterloo				953		689		-28		4,608	2,016		-56		5,561		2,705		-51
Lethbridge				288		178		-38		252	108		-57		540		286		-47
London				2,033		2,096		3		2,508	2,856		14		4,541		4,952		9
Moncton				295		316		7		2,148	324		-85		2,443		640		-74
Montréal				2,385		2,475		4		24,526	31,584		29		26,911		34,059		27
Oshawa				1,568		1,173		-25		1,752	1,992		14		3,320		3,165		-5
Ottawa-Gatineau				2,900		3,702		28		7,776	11,976		54		10,676		15,678		47
Gatineau				324		565		74		408	6,288		##		732		6,853		##
Ottawa				2,576		3,137		22		7,368	5,688		-23		9,944		8,825		-11
Peterborough				406		306		-25		1,896	0		-100		2,302		306		-87
Québec				583		760		30		1,620	8,340		415		2,203		9,100		313
Regina				485		371		-24		108	612		467		593		983		66
Saguenay				420		55		-87		228	192		-16		648		247		-62
St. Catharines-Niagara				1,463		1,966		34		756	1,944		157		2,219		3,910		76
Saint John				268		278		4		24	576		##		292		854		192
St. John's				408		425		4		36	120		233		444		545		23
Saskatoon				925		681		-26		264	4,704		##		1,189		5,385		353
Sherbrooke				572		340		-41		1,320	2,724		106		1,892		3,064		62
Thunder Bay				67		102		52		0	0		-		67		102		52
Toronto				7,389		5,875		-20		39,036	49,416		27		46,425		55,291		19
Trois-Rivières				371		256		-31		72	1,440		##		443		1,696		283
Vancouver				2,594		3,009		16		19,800	11,100		-44		22,394		14,109		-37
Victoria				802		703		-12		6,156	4,272		-31		6,958		4,975		-28
Windsor				596		337		-43		912	384		-58		1,508		721		-52
Winnipeg				2,410		1,986		-18		3,276	5,988		83		5,686		7,974		40
Data based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source:  Market Analysis Centre, CMHC
## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Information on this release: Media Relations, CMHC, [email protected]

Related Links

www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca