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Canada Housing Research, Data and Insights
- Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction Data Tables
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IMPORTANT
CMHC is conducting a methodology review of the unabsorbed inventory data series in the Ontario context. Updates will follow. In the meantime, please use the data with caution. Thank you for your understanding.
Housing starts are an economic indicator that reflect the number of residential housing projects that have been started over a specific length of time. These data are divided into 3 types: single-family houses, townhouses or small condos and apartment buildings with 5 or more units.
July monthly housing starts key highlights
- The 6-month trend in housing starts was virtually flat (-0.5%) in July, at 247,377 units.
- The trend measure is a 6-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.
- Actual monthly housing starts were down 19% year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater, with 18,834 units recorded in July 2025, compared to 23,155 in July 2026.
- The year-to-date total was 131,851 units, down 4% from the same period in 2025.
Canada’s 3 Biggest Census Metropolitan Areas
- Montréal posted a 3% year-over-year increase in actual housing starts, driven by higher multi-unit starts.
- Vancouver recorded a 42% decrease, due to lower multi-unit and single-detached starts.
- Toronto starts decreased 10% due to lower multi-unit starts.
July Standalone Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR)
- The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada
- decreased 5% in July (229,074 units) compared to June (240,773 units).
- The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 11,274 units.
- Author:
- CMHC
- Document Type:
- Excel
- Date Published:
- August 18, 2026
Related data tables
These datasets are reported quarterly and offer detailed information across all Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA), Census Agglomerations (CA) and Census Subdivisions (CSD) with populations of 10,000 or more.
Our Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction data tables are issued on the 11th working day of the month. Exact release dates can be found in our Reports Calendar.
You can also view this data on our Housing Market Information Portal.
About Monthly Housing Starts and Construction Data
A housing start is defined as the beginning of construction work on the building where the dwelling unit will be located. This can be described in 2 ways:
- The stage when the concrete has been poured for the whole of the footing around the structure.
- An equivalent stage where a basement will not be part of the structure.
Housing starts statistics are organized to facilitate an analysis of monthly, quarterly and year-over-year changes. Actual and seasonally-adjusted housing starts data are presented separately. Select under construction and absorption data are also included.
Housing starts, construction and absorption data are used to gain insight into the level of activity and supply conditions in the new home market.
Actual and seasonally adjusted housing starts data are presented separately by region, province, Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) and dwelling type. Select data on under construction and absorption are also included.
These monthly housing data tables reflect:
- current statistics
- new home starts
- construction activity
Data source: CMHC Starts and Completions Survey and Market Absorption Survey.
About the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR)
The SAAR allows you to compare monthly levels to annual levels for different months of the year. It also gives you a sense of the relative strength of monthly activity.
The time of year can be a factor when collecting data. We calculate the SAAR by:
- Using a rate adjustment to remove the data’s seasonal variations.
- Multiplying the seasonally adjusted level of starts by 12 to obtain the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of housing starts.
