Canada's Housing Starts Remain Stable in January

The national trend in housing starts essentially held steady in January. Lower-trending starts in Vancouver were partly offset by stronger activity in Montréal, while the trend in Toronto was stable at the start of the year.

The trend in housing starts was 210,915 units in January 2020, compared to 212,212 units in December 2019. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 213,224 units in January, an increase of 8.8% from 195,892 units in December. The SAAR of urban starts increased by 9.8% in January to 202,407 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 13.6% to 155,140 units in January while single-detached urban starts decreased by 0.9% to 47,267 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10,817 units.