Canada's Housing Starts Trend Decline in February

The national trend in housing starts declined in February, driven by lower-trending multi-unit starts. Single and multi-unit starts in Toronto both trended lower, while activity in Montréal declined due to lower-trending multi-unit starts. This offset a slight up-tick in Vancouver, which follows four consecutive declines in that CMA.

The trend in housing starts was 208,525 units in February 2020, compared to 211,153 units in January 2020. 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 210,069 units in February, a decrease of 1.9% from 214,031 units in January. The SAAR of urban starts also decreased by 1.9% in February to 199,304 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 6.1% to 146,072 units in February while single-detached urban starts increased by 11.9% to 53,232 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 10,765 units.