Housing starts for June and first half of 2024

OTTAWA, ON, July 16, 2024 /CNW/ - The total monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts for all areas in Canada decreased 9% in June (241,672 units) compared to May (264,929), according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The six-month trend in housing starts decreased 0.4% from 248,260 units in May to 247,205 units in June. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

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

The actual number of housing starts across Canada in urban centres of 10,000 population and over was down 13% to 20,509 units in June compared to 23,518 units in June 2023. The year-over-year decrease was driven by lower multi-unit starts, down 16%, while single-detached starts were similar to last June.

June's total actual housing starts were markedly lower in two of Canada's three major cities compared to June 2023, with Toronto down 60% and Vancouver down 55%. Both cities recorded significant declines in multi-unit construction. Montréal was up significantly at 226%, due to much higher multi-unit activity.

Through the first half of 2024, Canada's six largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) saw a modest 4% combined year-over-year increase from 2023, driven by higher starts levels in Calgary, Edmonton, and Montréal which made up for decreases in Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa. Among the largest of the big six CMAs, Vancouver and Toronto have seen apartment starts slow as high interest rates and weak condominium pre-construction sales appear to be affecting these centres negatively. Meanwhile, Montréal has observed higher multi-unit construction this year, with apartments starts up 63% from the 8-year low recorded in 2023. Also of note is the higher construction activity in Calgary and Edmonton as starts increased across all dwelling types, driving total starts up 38% and 67% respectively.

CMHC's next Housing Supply Report, to be released in the Fall, will examine these trends in greater detail. See Table 1 below for more information.

Quote:

"The higher interest rate environment appears to have caught up with some of Canada's major centres as lower multi-unit starts, particularly in Vancouver and Toronto, drove both the SAAR and Trend down in June. While strong starts growth in June and the first half 2024 in Calgary, Edmonton, and Montréal mitigated some of these decreases, we expect continued downward starts pressure across Canada throughout 2024," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist.

Key Facts:

• The monthly SAAR of total urban housing starts (centres with population above 10,000) was 9% lower with 223,234 units recorded. Multi-unit urban starts decreased 12% to 180,205 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 2% to 43,029 units.
• The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 18,438 units.
• Total SAAR housing starts were up 23% in Montréal, driven by a 26% increase in multi-unit starts. Vancouver declined 13%, due to decreases in multi-unit starts. Toronto decreased 37% with multi-unit starts lower.
• 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 July housing starts data on August 15 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.

As a trusted source of housing information, CMHC provides unbiased housing-related data, research, and market information to help close knowledge gaps, and deepen understanding of complex housing issues to inform future policy decisions.

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.

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Related Links:

• 2024 Rental Market Report
• 2024 Housing Market Outlook
• Spring 2024 Housing Supply Report
• Housing starts for May 2024
• Canada's potential capacity for housing construction

Table 1: Housing starts by dwelling type, first half of 2024, and year-over-year % change, select CMAs*
	Single-Detached		Semi-Detached		Row		Apartment		Total
	Units	% change	Units	% change	Units	% change	Units	% change	Units	% change
Vancouver	1,057	-30 %	456	-19 %	842	-21 %	11,923	-17 %	14,278	-18 %
Calgary	3,343	33 %	1,080	34 %	1,481	16 %	5,274	50 %	11,178	38 %
Edmonton	2,958	42 %	606	59 %	1,302	32 %	3,582	120 %	8,448	67 %
Toronto	1,789	-21 %	156	34 %	2,088	-4 %	18,496	-13 %	22,529	-13 %
Ottawa	619	-7 %	42	-42 %	763	13 %	1,409	-35 %	2,833	-21 %
Montréal	518	6 %	128	33 %	239	72 %	8,488	63 %	9,373	58 %
Total	10,284	8 %	2,468	22 %	6,715	6 %	49,172	2 %	68,639	4 %

*Numbers in table are inclusive of all housing tenures (i.e., freehold, condominium, rental and co-op).

Source: CMHC

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
		Single-Detached			All Others			Total
		June 2023	June 2024	%	June 2023	June 2024	%	June 2023	June 2024	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.		54	96	78	5	36	##	59	132	124
P.E.I.		13	6	-54	10	38	280	23	44	91
N.S.		201	178	-11	923	769	-17	1,124	947	-16
N.B.		145	124	-14	254	358	41	399	482	21
Atlantic		413	404	-2	1,192	1,201	1	1,605	1,605	-
Qc		454	434	-4	2,443	4,561	87	2,897	4,995	72
Ont.		1,491	1,142	-23	8,623	4,539	-47	10,114	5,681	-44
Man.		153	160	5	434	563	30	587	723	23
Sask.		89	154	73	483	217	-55	572	371	-35
Alta.		1,149	1,586	38	1,219	2,205	81	2,368	3,791	60
Prairies		1,391	1,900	37	2,136	2,985	40	3,527	4,885	39
B.C.		599	484	-19	4,776	2,859	-40	5,375	3,343	-38
Canada (10,000+)		4,348	4,364	0	19,170	16,145	-16	23,518	20,509	-13
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		18	12	-33	53	29	-45	71	41	-42
Barrie		103	34	-67	363	38	-90	466	72	-85
Belleville - Quinte West		24	19	-21	32	8	-75	56	27	-52
Brantford		53	4	-92	2	4	100	55	8	-85
Calgary		518	719	39	721	1,247	73	1,239	1,966	59
Chilliwack		20	11	-45	14	104	##	34	115	238
Drummondville		14	15	7	27	85	215	41	100	144
Edmonton		503	737	47	457	738	61	960	1,475	54
Fredericton		61	37	-39	81	43	-47	142	80	-44
Greater/Grand Sudbury		2	0	-100	2	0	-100	4	0	-100
Guelph		5	7	40	136	30	-78	141	37	-74
Halifax		98	97	-1	887	695	-22	985	792	-20
Hamilton		33	19	-42	288	6	-98	321	25	-92
Kamloops		5	6	20	1	6	##	6	12	100
Kelowna		62	38	-39	322	572	78	384	610	59
Kingston		27	28	4	0	7	##	27	35	30
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		109	47	-57	54	538	##	163	585	259
Lethbridge		26	17	-35	2	15	##	28	32	14
London		27	77	185	214	129	-40	241	206	-15
Moncton		38	27	-29	164	197	20	202	224	11
Montréal		134	121	-10	774	2,841	267	908	2,962	226
Nanaimo		16	17	6	3	62	##	19	79	316
Oshawa		115	32	-72	60	214	257	175	246	41
Ottawa-Gatineau		236	184	-22	792	487	-39	1,028	671	-35
Gatineau		14	36	157	413	107	-74	427	143	-67
Ottawa		222	148	-33	379	380	0	601	528	-12
Peterborough		3	42	##	0	24	##	3	66	##
Québec		37	68	84	540	761	41	577	829	44
Red Deer		3	4	33	4	5	25	7	9	29
Regina		10	37	270	149	91	-39	159	128	-19
Saguenay		34	25	-26	14	24	71	48	49	2
St. Catharines-Niagara		41	37	-10	132	33	-75	173	70	-60
Saint John		31	36	16	0	68	##	31	104	235
St. John's		50	86	72	5	33	##	55	119	116
Saskatoon		75	112	49	333	126	-62	408	238	-42
Sherbrooke		27	29	7	71	194	173	98	223	128
Thunder Bay		16	9	-44	4	6	50	20	15	-25
Toronto		370	324	-12	6,801	2,523	-63	7,171	2,847	-60
Trois-Rivières		10	17	70	267	80	-70	277	97	-65
Vancouver		350	300	-14	3,555	1,467	-59	3,905	1,767	-55
Victoria		25	22	-12	477	312	-35	502	334	-33
Windsor		31	58	87	25	305	##	56	363	##
Winnipeg		139	130	-6	428	549	28	567	679	20
Total		3,499	3,641	4	18,254	14,696	-19	21,753	18,337	-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
		May 2024	June 2024	%	May 2024	June 2024	%	May 2024	June 2024	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.		579	727	26	133	402	202	712	1,129	59
P.E.I.		227	85	-63	1,200	456	-62	1,427	541	-62
N.S.		1,634	1,941	19	6,560	9,210	40	8,194	11,151	36
N.B.		1,023	916	-10	6,188	4,080	-34	7,211	4,996	-31
Qc		4,373	3,740	-14	44,042	43,164	-2	48,415	46,904	-3
Ont.		12,899	11,992	-7	71,198	53,102	-25	84,097	65,094	-23
Man.		1,543	1,644	7	1,128	6,756	499	2,671	8,400	214
Sask.		1,112	1,612	45	468	2,604	456	1,580	4,216	167
Alta.		14,520	15,496	7	33,315	26,346	-21	47,835	41,842	-13
B.C.		4,377	4,876	11	39,931	34,085	-15	44,308	38,961	-12
Canada (10,000+)		42,287	43,029	2	204,163	180,205	-12	246,450	223,234	-9
Canada (All Areas)		52,229	52,762	1	212,702	188,911	-11	264,929	241,672	-9
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		154	142	-8	1,500	348	-77	1,654	490	-70
Barrie		290	350	21	720	456	-37	1,010	806	-20
Belleville - Quinte West		136	171	26	48	96	100	184	267	45
Brantford		250	142	-43	0	48	##	250	190	-24
Calgary		6,950	7,550	9	16,548	14,964	-10	23,498	22,514	-4
Chilliwack		148	142	-4	148	1,248	##	304	1,390	357
Drummondville		133	136	2	732	1,020	39	865	1,156	34
Edmonton		6,105	6,806	11	15,036	8,856	-41	21,141	15,662	-26
Fredericton		274	249	-9	768	516	-33	1,042	765	-27
Greater/Grand Sudbury		30	14	-53	264	0	-100	294	14	-95
Guelph		101	53	-48	0	360	##	101	413	309
Halifax		759	684	-10	5,592	8,340	49	6,351	9,024	42
Hamilton		220	176	-20	5,148	72	-99	5,368	248	-95
Kamloops		188	82	-56	1,044	72	-93	1,232	154	-88
Kelowna		378	314	-17	12,240	6,864	-44	12,618	7,178	-43
Kingston		144	251	74	240	84	-65	384	335	-13
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		406	481	18	360	6,456	##	766	6,937	##
Lethbridge		438	155	-65	228	180	-21	666	335	-50
London		604	926	53	1,188	1,548	30	1,792	2,474	38
Moncton		211	207	-2	4,404	2,364	-46	4,615	2,571	-44
Montréal		1,283	893	-30	27,047	34,065	26	28,330	34,958	23
Nanaimo		147	179	22	144	744	417	291	923	217
Oshawa		907	274	-70	984	2,568	161	1,891	2,842	50
Ottawa-Gatineau		1,992	2,202	11	16,128	5,844	-64	18,120	8,046	-56
Gatineau		593	690	16	9,312	1,284	-86	9,905	1,974	-80
Ottawa		1,399	1,512	8	6,816	4,560	-33	8,215	6,072	-26
Peterborough		93	475	411	24	288	##	117	763	##
Québec		566	596	5	7,044	9,132	30	7,610	9,728	28
Red Deer		105	66	-37	60	60	-	165	126	-24
Regina		237	324	37	204	1,092	435	441	1,416	221
Saguenay		230	162	-30	132	288	118	362	450	24
St. Catharines-Niagara		1,007	565	-44	2,232	396	-82	3,239	961	-70
Saint John		199	283	42	312	816	162	511	1,099	115
St. John's		512	616	20	132	396	200	644	1,012	57
Saskatoon		816	1,144	40	264	1,512	473	1,080	2,656	146
Sherbrooke		337	249	-26	1,080	2,328	116	1,417	2,577	82
Thunder Bay		158	66	-58	24	72	200	182	138	-24
Toronto		4,000	4,062	2	50,280	30,276	-40	54,280	34,338	-37
Trois-Rivières		225	101	-55	1,548	960	-38	1,773	1,061	-40
Vancouver		2,079	2,962	42	21,468	17,604	-18	23,547	20,566	-13
Victoria		328	285	-13	1,464	3,744	156	1,792	4,029	125
Windsor		367	462	26	1,032	3,660	255	1,399	4,122	195
Winnipeg		1,198	1,297	8	972	6,588	##	2,170	7,885	263

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]