Housing starts for August 2024

OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 17, 2024 /CNW/ - The six-month trend in housing starts decreased 2.9% from 255,794 units in July to 248,480 units in August. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada decreased 22% in August (217,405 units) compared to July (279,804 units), according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

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

In Canada's urban centres with a population of 10,000 or greater, there have been 149,922 actual housing starts year-to-date (January – August) in 2024. This compares to 143,229 for the same period in 2023, meaning actual housing starts are currently 5% higher this year.

Quote:

"Growth in actual year-to-date housing starts has been driven by both higher multi-unit and single-detached units in Alberta, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. By contrast, year-to-date starts in Ontario and British Columbia have decreased across all housing types. As the housing shortage continues, higher levels of construction are needed to restore affordability in Canada's urban centres." said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist.

Key Facts:

• The monthly SAAR of total urban (centres 10,000 population and over) housing starts was 24% lower (199,478 units). Multi-unit urban starts decreased 29% (154,290 units), while single-detached urban starts increased 3% (45,188 units).
• The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 17,927 units.
• Actual year-to-date housing starts between January and August 2024 are up 39% in Montreal from the same period last year, showing some recovery from historically low new home construction in 2023.
• In Vancouver, actual starts are down 20% in 2024 compared to 2023, but it's important to note 2023 was a record high year.
• In Toronto, actual year-to-date housing starts are down 14% from 2023, which was also a high year for housing starts by historical standards.
• 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 housing starts data on October 16 at 8:15 AM ET.
• CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and to obtain a clearer picture of upcoming new housing supply. 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.
• Definitions and methodology to better understand the foundations of the Starts and Completions and Market Absorption surveys.
• Housing starts facilitate the analysis of monthly, quarterly, and year-over-year activity in the new home market. The data we collect as part of our Starts and Completions and Market Absorption surveys helps us obtain a clearer picture of upcoming new housing supply and is used as part of our various housing reports.

CMHC plays a critical role as a national convenor to promote stability and sustainability in Canada's housing finance system. Our mortgage insurance products support access to home ownership and the creation and maintenance of rental supply. We actively support the Government of Canada in delivering on its commitment to make housing more affordable. Our research and data help inform housing policy. By facilitating cooperation between all levels of government, private and non-profit sectors, we contribute to advancing housing affordability, equity, and climate compatibility. 

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Related Links:

• 2024 Housing Market Outlook
• 2024 Rental Market Report
• CMHC 2023: Housing reports retrospective
• Housing Starts for July 2024

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	August 2023	August 2024	%	August 2023	August 2024	%	August 2023	August 2024	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.	60	91	52	25	44	76	85	135	59
P.E.I.	23	20	-13	51	31	-39	74	51	-31
N.S.	109	140	28	133	162	22	242	302	25
N.B.	123	114	-7	469	585	25	592	699	18
Atlantic	315	365	16	678	822	21	993	1,187	20
Qc	381	413	8	2,657	2,338	-12	3,038	2,751	-9
Ont.	1,295	1,375	6	5,893	4,004	-32	7,188	5,379	-25
Man.	148	186	26	381	418	10	529	604	14
Sask.	103	115	12	377	153	-59	480	268	-44
Alta.	1,119	1,452	30	2,304	2,588	12	3,423	4,040	18
Prairies	1,370	1,753	28	3,062	3,159	3	4,432	4,912	11
B.C.	536	407	-24	3,272	2,221	-32	3,808	2,628	-31
Canada (10,000+)	3,897	4,313	11	15,562	12,544	-19	19,459	16,857	-13
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission	28	17	-39	7	9	29	35	26	-26
Barrie	40	31	-23	76	142	87	116	173	49
Belleville - Quinte West	18	24	33	4	11	175	22	35	59
Brantford	2	17	##	12	0	-100	14	17	21
Calgary	495	597	21	1,185	1,078	-9	1,680	1,675	0
Chilliwack	23	17	-26	62	5	-92	85	22	-74
Drummondville	29	25	-14	29	84	190	58	109	88
Edmonton	481	691	44	990	1,177	19	1,471	1,868	27
Fredericton	32	36	13	30	133	343	62	169	173
Greater/Grand Sudbury	6	3	-50	72	0	-100	78	3	-96
Guelph	9	3	-67	8	27	238	17	30	76
Halifax	24	75	213	89	129	45	113	204	81
Hamilton	19	36	89	207	89	-57	226	125	-45
Kamloops	0	4	##	25	1	-96	25	5	-80
Kelowna	40	54	35	70	14	-80	110	68	-38
Kingston	21	39	86	33	63	91	54	102	89
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	87	27	-69	116	304	162	203	331	63
Lethbridge	7	58	##	0	218	##	7	276	##
London	40	58	45	111	412	271	151	470	211
Moncton	43	33	-23	392	408	4	435	441	1
Montréal	62	90	45	1,234	1,148	-7	1,296	1,238	-4
Nanaimo	20	12	-40	6	2	-67	26	14	-46
Oshawa	51	52	2	27	241	##	78	293	276
Ottawa-Gatineau	216	163	-25	1,029	582	-43	1,245	745	-40
Gatineau	13	37	185	309	84	-73	322	121	-62
Ottawa	203	126	-38	720	498	-31	923	624	-32
Peterborough	19	8	-58	1	55	##	20	63	215
Québec	71	73	3	670	357	-47	741	430	-42
Red Deer	5	6	20	13	0	-100	18	6	-67
Regina	30	25	-17	60	24	-60	90	49	-46
Saguenay	33	11	-67	46	30	-35	79	41	-48
St. Catharines-Niagara	58	26	-55	351	169	-52	409	195	-52
Saint John	33	24	-27	36	24	-33	69	48	-30
St. John's	35	64	83	19	43	126	54	107	98
Saskatoon	67	83	24	257	123	-52	324	206	-36
Sherbrooke	30	35	17	102	93	-9	132	128	-3
Thunder Bay	13	7	-46	93	0	-100	106	7	-93
Toronto	390	544	39	3,747	1,619	-57	4,137	2,163	-48
Trois-Rivières	8	24	200	10	125	##	18	149	##
Vancouver	293	192	-34	2,331	1,534	-34	2,624	1,726	-34
Victoria	22	20	-9	642	427	-33	664	447	-33
Windsor	38	65	71	123	94	-24	161	159	-1
Winnipeg	123	161	31	348	323	-7	471	484	3
Total	3,061	3,530	15	14,663	11,317	-23	17,724	14,847	-16
Data for 2023 and 2024 based on 2021 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC
## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data - Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	July 2024	August 2024	%	July 2024	August 2024	%	July 2024	August 2024	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.	694	669	-4	256	501	96	950	1,170	23
P.E.I.	307	211	-31	1,812	372	-79	2,119	583	-72
N.S.	1,851	1,685	-9	3,820	1,886	-51	5,671	3,571	-37
N.B.	1,155	862	-25	2,507	6,930	176	3,662	7,792	113
Qc	4,137	5,062	22	30,885	36,297	18	35,022	41,359	18
Ont.	12,716	13,397	5	90,653	43,711	-52	103,369	57,108	-45
Man.	1,565	1,849	18	5,856	5,016	-14	7,421	6,865	-7
Sask.	1,286	1,248	-3	5,820	1,836	-68	7,106	3,084	-57
Alta.	15,855	15,527	-2	34,056	30,918	-9	49,911	46,445	-7
B.C.	4,394	4,678	6	41,418	26,823	-35	45,812	31,501	-31
Canada (10,000+)	43,960	45,188	3	217,083	154,290	-29	261,043	199,478	-24
Canada (All Areas)	54,434	55,851	3	225,368	161,555	-28	279,804	217,405	-22
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission	307	181	-41	348	108	-69	655	289	-56
Barrie	315	283	-10	744	1,704	129	1,059	1,987	88
Belleville - Quinte West	150	219	46	120	132	10	270	351	30
Brantford	314	121	-61	24	0	-100	338	121	-64
Calgary	6,940	6,946	0	22,152	12,936	-42	29,092	19,882	-32
Chilliwack	217	193	-11	217	60	-72	325	253	-22
Drummondville	146	248	70	2,508	1,008	-60	2,654	1,256	-53
Edmonton	7,582	7,059	-7	10,824	14,124	30	18,406	21,183	15
Fredericton	406	264	-35	84	1,596	##	490	1,860	280
Greater/Grand Sudbury	-72	-15	-79	156	0	-100	84	-15	-118
Guelph	80	29	-64	1,284	324	-75	1,364	353	-74
Halifax	859	1,172	36	2,844	1,548	-46	3,703	2,720	-27
Hamilton	169	305	80	3,588	1,068	-70	3,757	1,373	-63
Kamloops	30	33	10	252	12	-95	282	45	-84
Kelowna	434	525	21	4,680	168	-96	5,114	693	-86
Kingston	128	401	213	132	756	473	260	1,157	345
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	352	289	-18	2,544	3,648	43	2,896	3,937	36
Lethbridge	59	571	##	48	2,616	##	107	3,187	##
London	334	619	85	6,828	4,944	-28	7,162	5,563	-22
Moncton	305	240	-21	2,004	4,896	144	2,309	5,136	122
Montréal	1,116	1,255	12	8,004	13,900	74	9,120	15,155	66
Nanaimo	163	131	-20	432	24	-94	595	155	-74
Oshawa	277	420	52	516	2,892	460	793	3,312	318
Ottawa-Gatineau	1,598	2,018	26	13,176	6,984	-47	14,774	9,002	-39
Gatineau	333	636	91	3,612	1,008	-72	3,945	1,644	-58
Ottawa	1,265	1,382	9	9,564	5,976	-38	10,829	7,358	-32
Peterborough	101	54	-47	0	660	##	101	714	##
Québec	564	906	61	6,876	4,284	-38	7,440	5,190	-30
Red Deer	158	72	-54	0	0	-	158	72	-54
Regina	233	237	2	1,452	288	-80	1,685	525	-69
Saguenay	175	79	-55	276	360	30	451	439	-3
St. Catharines-Niagara	660	297	-55	1,020	2,028	99	1,680	2,325	38
Saint John	301	259	-14	324	288	-11	625	547	-12
St. John's	548	547	0	276	516	87	824	1,063	29
Saskatoon	1,000	940	-6	4,296	1,476	-66	5,296	2,416	-54
Sherbrooke	205	323	58	612	1,116	82	817	1,439	76
Thunder Bay	70	49	-30	768	0	-100	838	49	-94
Toronto	4,856	5,197	7	60,252	19,428	-68	65,108	24,625	-62
Trois-Rivières	252	284	13	456	1,500	229	708	1,784	152
Vancouver	2,134	2,051	-4	27,948	18,408	-34	30,082	20,459	-32
Victoria	266	241	-9	3,948	5,124	30	4,214	5,365	27
Windsor	523	509	-3	1,560	1,128	-28	2,083	1,637	-21
Winnipeg	1,264	1,663	32	5,184	3,876	-25	6,448	5,539	-14
Data for 2023 and 2024 based on 2021 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC
## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)

Information on this release: To request an interview with a CMHC economist, contact: Media Relations, CMHC, [email protected]