SAAR housing starts at highest level since November 2021 in September

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 18, 2022 /CNW/ - The standalone monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada was at the highest since November 2021 (305,889 units) last month, with 299,589 units, up 11% from August. The SAAR of total urban starts increased 12% to 276,142 units in September. Multi-unit urban starts increased 16% to 216,549 units, while single-detached urban starts were flat at 59,593 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 23,447 units.

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

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

“Both the six-month trend and monthly SAAR in housing starts were higher in September compared to August. September’s increase in monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas was driven by higher multi-unit starts. Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver recorded large increases in SAAR multi-unit starts, resulting in the overall increase for Canada. While single-detached units were up 85% in Vancouver, single-detached starts were flat in Toronto and Montreal. Housing starts activity remains elevated in Canada in 2022,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. 

The trend in housing starts was 276,682 units in September, up 3% from 267,813 units in August, 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.

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 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.

Key Facts:

• 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.
• 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.

For more information, follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Related Links:

***The second edition of our Housing Supply Report will be released shortly. The report will be available here at 8:30 AM ET.

• The road ahead for the economy and housing — fall 2022 update
• Canada's housing supply shortage: skilled labour capacity
• Understanding Canada's housing supply shortages
• Household projections for Canada's major urban centres

Information on this release:

We encourage journalists to contact CMHC Media Relations and arrange to speak to our market analysts regarding the housing starts in their respective Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs).

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
			Single-Detached					All Others						Total
			September 2021		September 2022		%	September 2021			September 2022		%	September 2021			September 2022		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.			55		46		-16	14			8		-43	69			54		-22
P.E.I.			28		1		-96	7			0		-100	35			1		-97
N.S.			272		281		3	136			104		-24	408			385		-6
N.B.			106		133		25	100			310		210	206			443		115
Atlantic			461		461		-	257			422		64	718			883		23
Qc			765		537		-30	4,595			3,156		-31	5,360			3,693		-31
Ont.			2,090		2,068		-1	5,926			9,168		55	8,016			11,236		40
Man.			197		227		15	522			138		-74	719			365		-49
Sask.			99		104		5	446			119		-73	545			223		-59
Alta.			1,125		1,461		30	1,027			1,962		91	2,152			3,423		59
Prairies			1,421		1,792		26	1,995			2,219		11	3,416			4,011		17
B.C.			715		747		4	1,977			3,527		78	2,692			4,274		59
Canada (10,000+)			5,452		5,605		3	14,750			18,492		25	20,202			24,097		19
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission			36		43		19	94			125		33	130			168		29
Barrie			100		152		52	109			395		262	209			547		162
Belleville			29		27		-7	7			17		143	36			44		22
Brantford			10		51		410	0			46		##	10			97		##
Calgary			484		590		22	542			1,089		101	1,026			1,679		64
Edmonton			470		678		44	433			782		81	903			1,460		62
Greater Sudbury			25		10		-60	155			18		-88	180			28		-84
Guelph			16		6		-63	0			123		##	16			129		##
Halifax			172		80		-53	101			22		-78	273			102		-63
Hamilton			37		100		170	43			89		107	80			189		136
Kelowna			70		44		-37	128			208		63	198			252		27
Kingston			25		61		144	6			22		267	31			83		168
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo			62		86		39	168			213		27	230			299		30
Lethbridge			18		19		6	9			3		-67	27			22		-19
London			195		61		-69	238			245		3	433			306		-29
Moncton			39		35		-10	27			214		##	66			249		277
Montréal			261		152		-42	2,652			1,962		-26	2,913			2,114		-27
Oshawa			111		87		-22	166			221		33	277			308		11
Ottawa-Gatineau			402		287		-29	998			1,728		73	1,400			2,015		44
Gatineau			88		33		-63	524			124		-76	612			157		-74
Ottawa			314		254		-19	474			1,604		238	788			1,858		136
Peterborough			18		50		178	0			6		##	18			56		211
Québec			72		55		-24	695			414		-40	767			469		-39
Regina			29		21		-28	51			59		16	80			80		-
Saguenay			4		18		350	16			24		50	20			42		110
St. Catharines-Niagara			143		95		-34	162			697		330	305			792		160
Saint John			32		28		-13	48			0		-100	80			28		-65
St. John's			46		34		-26	10			4		-60	56			38		-32
Saskatoon			59		77		31	392			45		-89	451			122		-73
Sherbrooke			42		30		-29	227			125		-45	269			155		-42
Thunder Bay			17		17		-	0			8		##	17			25		47
Toronto			494		499		1	4,118			4,931		20	4,612			5,430		18
Trois-Rivières			30		15		-50	120			62		-48	150			77		-49
Vancouver			289		419		45	925			2,293		148	1,214			2,712		123
Victoria			60		53		-12	356			217		-39	416			270		-35
Windsor			33		61		85	32			122		281	65			183		182
Winnipeg			163		188		15	499			95		-81	662			283		-57
Total			4,093		4,229		3	13,527			16,624		23	17,620			20,853		18
Data for  2021 and  2022  based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey
## not calculable / extreme value
Housing Start Data - Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
				Single-Detached						All Others						Total
				August 2022		September 2022			%	August 2022		September 2022			%	August 2022		September 2022		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.				712		438			-38	233		79			-66	945		517		-45
P.E.I.				174		10			-94	588		0			-100	762		10		-99
N.S.				1,826		2,085			14	3,530		1,136			-68	5,356		3,221		-40
N.B.				1,272		1,153			-9	4,731		3,706			-22	6,003		4,859		-19
Qc				7,178		5,080			-29	40,663		34,736			-15	47,841		39,816		-17
Ont.				23,069		23,049			0	72,993		108,075			48	96,062		131,124		36
Man.				2,707		2,675			-1	3,540		1,656			-53	6,247		4,331		-31
Sask.				1,330		1,224			-8	3,840		1,428			-63	5,170		2,652		-49
Alta.				14,751		15,830			7	18,140		23,602			30	32,891		39,432		20
B.C.				6,805		8,049			18	38,261		42,131			10	45,066		50,180		11
Canada (10,000+)				59,824		59,593			0	186,519		216,549			16	246,343		276,142		12
Canada (All Areas)				77,525		76,539			-1	192,870		223,051			16	270,397		299,589		11
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission				442		420			-5	216		1,500			##	658		1,920		192
Barrie				1,252		1,393			11	816		4,740			481	2,068		6,133		197
Belleville				267		271			1	180		204			13	447		475		6
Brantford				654		635			-3	1,272		552			-57	1,926		1,187		-38
Calgary				5,814		6,399			10	8,064		13,068			62	13,878		19,467		40
Edmonton				6,716		7,460			11	6,396		9,384			47	13,112		16,844		28
Greater Sudbury				156		88			-44	432		216			-50	588		304		-48
Guelph				146		85			-42	468		1,476			215	614		1,561		154
Halifax				560		689			23	2,628		264			-90	3,188		953		-70
Hamilton				879		1,243			41	984		1,068			9	1,863		2,311		24
Kelowna				936		597			-36	6,672		2,496			-63	7,608		3,093		-59
Kingston				179		549			207	1,248		264			-79	1,427		813		-43
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo				680		985			45	4,188		2,556			-39	4,868		3,541		-27
Lethbridge				248		225			-9	2,400		36			-99	2,648		261		-90
London				1,309		689			-47	516		2,940			470	1,825		3,629		99
Moncton				453		277			-39	3,396		2,568			-24	3,849		2,845		-26
Montréal				1,786		1,506			-16	15,392		23,456			52	17,178		24,962		45
Oshawa				1,381		957			-31	2,796		2,652			-5	4,177		3,609		-14
Ottawa-Gatineau				3,189		2,820			-12	12,672		20,736			64	15,861		23,556		49
Gatineau				903		222			-75	96		1,488			##	999		1,710		71
Ottawa				2,286		2,598			14	12,576		19,248			53	14,862		21,846		47
Peterborough				380		720			89	48		72			50	428		792		85
Québec				905		657			-27	8,844		4,968			-44	9,749		5,625		-42
Regina				240		292			22	492		708			44	732		1,000		37
Saguenay				304		262			-14	480		288			-40	784		550		-30
St. Catharines-Niagara				1,132		1,335			18	1,380		8,364			##	2,512		9,699		286
Saint John				255		243			-5	0		0			-	255		243		-5
St. John's				568		353			-38	168		48			-71	736		401		-46
Saskatoon				1,036		965			-7	3,228		540			-83	4,264		1,505		-65
Sherbrooke				563		331			-41	1,032		1,500			45	1,595		1,831		15
Thunder Bay				129		113			-12	0		96			##	129		209		62
Toronto				5,834		5,972			2	46,152		59,172			28	51,986		65,144		25
Trois-Rivières				418		162			-61	552		744			35	970		906		-7
Vancouver				2,440		4,508			85	20,748		27,516			33	23,188		32,024		38
Victoria				783		684			-13	3,684		2,604			-29	4,467		3,288		-26
Windsor				751		698			-7	2,004		1,464			-27	2,755		2,162		-22
Winnipeg				2,255		2,248			0	2,712		1,140			-58	4,967		3,388		-32
Data for  2021 and  2022  based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey
## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Media Relations, CMHC, [email protected]