Canada’s September Housing Starts Trend Sees Little Change

Ottawa, October 8, 2020

The trend in housing starts was 214,647 units in September 2020, up from 212,609 units in August 2020, 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.

“The national trend in housing starts was largely unchanged in September,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. “Multi-family starts have been very volatile in recent months, partly reflecting the impact of COVID-19. High levels of multi-family starts in July and August were largely offset by lower levels in September, leaving the trend largely unchanged. This pattern was particularly evident in Ontario, including Toronto. We expect national starts to trend lower by the end of 2020 as a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic and housing indicators.”

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 more complete picture of Canada’s housing market. In some situations, analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as they are largely driven by the multi-unit segment of the market which can vary significantly from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 208,980 units in September, a decrease of 20.1% from 261,547 units in August. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 21.1% in September to 195,909 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 27% to 146,005 units in September while single-detached urban starts increased by 3.4% to 49,904 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13,071 units.

Preliminary Housing Starts data are also available in English and French through our website and through CMHC’s Housing Market Information Portal. Our analysts are also available to provide further insight into their respective markets.

Like many other government organizations, businesses and individuals, we are closely following developments around COVID-19. The monthly release of our Preliminary Housing Starts data will continue as planned. CMHC will report any impact on our ability to collect housing data.

We are always looking to improve our products and the way we share key housing market data and analysis. As such, starting in November 2020, we will be moving our monthly housing starts data and news release from the 6^th to 11^th business day. This allows us to deliver a complete package of data all at once, rather than releasing preliminary data at an earlier date. October housing starts will be released at 8:15 ET on Tuesday, November 17, 2020.

As Canada’s authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

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

Information on this release:

Angelina Ritacco
Media Relations, CMHC
416-218-3320
aritacco@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Table 1: Preliminary Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Sept. 2019	Sept. 2020	%	Sept. 2019	Sept. 2020	%	Sept. 2019	Sept. 2020	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.	56	43	-23	31	6	-81	87	49	-44
P.E.I.	25	27	8	130	21	-84	155	48	-69
N.S.	164	187	14	172	381	122	336	568	69
N.B.	76	130	71	270	82	-70	346	212	-39
Atlantic	321	387	21	603	490	-19	924	877	-5
Qc	741	859	16	3,260	4,122	26	4,001	4,981	24
Ont.	1,804	2,053	14	5,627	5,046	-10	7,431	7,099	-4
Man.	168	178	6	158	107	-32	326	285	-13
Sask.	77	124	61	230	26	-89	307	150	-51
Alta.	952	781	-18	1,810	1,384	-24	2,762	2,165	-22
Prairies	1,197	1,083	-10	2,198	1,517	-31	3,395	2,600	-23
B.C.	653	607	-7	2,729	2,005	-27	3,382	2,612	-23
Canada (10,000+)	4,716	4,989	6	14,417	13,180	-9	19,133	18,169	-5
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission	31	43	39	145	53	-63	176	96	-45
Barrie	19	63	232	55	6	-89	74	69	-7
Belleville	55	46	-16	8	12	50	63	58	-8
Brantford	103	50	-51	28	51	82	131	101	-23
Calgary	383	310	-19	1,182	725	-39	1,565	1,035	-34
Edmonton	403	333	-17	517	535	3	920	868	-6
Greater Sudbury	22	14	-36	0	8	##	22	22	-
Guelph	21	15	-29	106	4	-96	127	19	-85
Halifax	101	128	27	144	348	142	245	476	94
Hamilton	93	8	-91	99	218	120	192	226	18
Kelowna	44	38	-14	83	49	-41	127	87	-31
Kingston	45	37	-18	356	187	-47	401	224	-44
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	83	87	5	596	565	-5	679	652	-4
Lethbridge	31	34	10	12	11	-8	43	45	5
London	132	172	30	158	217	37	290	389	34
Moncton	18	41	128	202	30	-85	220	71	-68
Montréal	223	318	43	1,411	2,510	78	1,634	2,828	73
Oshawa	32	100	213	94	219	133	126	319	153
Ottawa-Gatineau	336	370	10	1,195	1,170	-2	1,531	1,540	1
Gatineau	60	124	107	182	301	65	242	425	76
Ottawa	276	246	-11	1,013	869	-14	1,289	1,115	-13
Peterborough	20	8	-60	13	6	-54	33	14	-58
Québec	77	89	16	909	661	-27	986	750	-24
Regina	19	38	100	54	11	-80	73	49	-33
Saguenay	14	15	7	18	16	-11	32	31	-3
St. Catharines-Niagara	112	59	-47	275	78	-72	387	137	-65
Saint John	19	36	89	51	34	-33	70	70	-
St. John's	42	32	-24	25	4	-84	67	36	-46
Saskatoon	52	78	50	165	9	-95	217	87	-60
Sherbrooke	77	46	-40	189	160	-15	266	206	-23
Thunder Bay	16	13	-19	3	2	-33	19	15	-21
Toronto	330	654	98	2,419	2,137	-12	2,749	2,791	2
Trois-Rivières	30	17	-43	56	30	-46	86	47	-45
Vancouver	316	257	-19	1,810	1,559	-14	2,126	1,816	-15
Victoria	67	55	-18	442	138	-69	509	193	-62
Windsor	51	77	51	101	133	32	152	210	38
Winnipeg	140	142	1	130	73	-44	270	215	-20
Total	3,557	3,823	7	13,051	11,969	-8	16,608	15,792	-5

Data based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: Market Analysis Centre, CMHC
## not calculable / extreme value

Table 2: Preliminary Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Aug. 2020	Sept. 2020	%	Aug. 2020	Sept. 2020	%	Aug. 2020	Sept. 2020	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.	628	359	-43	60	68	13	688	427	-38
P.E.I.	250	236	-6	1,728	252	-85	1,978	488	-75
N.S.	1,507	1,626	8	1,697	4,401	159	3,204	6,027	88
N.B.	574	1,192	108	3,449	885	-74	4,023	2,077	-48
Qc	6,487	7,032	8	49,020	41,003	-16	55,507	48,035	-13
Ont.	21,764	21,324	-2	93,575	57,392	-39	115,339	78,716	-32
Man.	1,679	1,942	16	2,844	1,284	-55	4,523	3,226	-29
Sask.	938	1,178	26	1,440	312	-78	2,378	1,490	-37
Alta.	7,330	8,384	14	11,716	16,369	40	19,046	24,753	30
B.C.	7,087	6,631	-6	34,447	24,039	-30	41,534	30,670	-26
Canada (10,000+)	48,244	49,904	3	199,976	146,005	-27	248,220	195,909	-21
Canada (All Areas)	56,392	58,168	3	205,158	150,812	-26	261,547	208,980	-20
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission	372	438	18	1,068	636	-40	1,440	1,074	-25
Barrie	469	803	71	48	72	50	517	875	69
Belleville	379	421	11	60	144	140	439	565	29
Brantford	965	340	-65	672	612	-9	1,637	952	-42
Calgary	2,371	3,150	33	6,300	8,700	38	8,671	11,850	37
Edmonton	3,775	3,865	2	5,448	6,420	18	9,223	10,285	12
Greater Sudbury	142	98	-31	144	96	-33	286	194	-32
Guelph	187	182	-3	0	48	##	187	230	23
Halifax	795	1,109	39	1,272	4,176	228	2,067	5,285	156
Hamilton	648	92	-86	2,820	2,616	-7	3,468	2,708	-22
Kelowna	738	464	-37	1,896	588	-69	2,634	1,052	-60
Kingston	211	313	48	744	2,244	202	955	2,557	168
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	1,341	1,017	-24	1,236	6,780	449	2,577	7,797	203
Lethbridge	316	307	-3	60	132	120	376	439	17
London	1,547	1,775	15	816	2,604	219	2,363	4,379	85
Moncton	139	378	172	1,524	360	-76	1,663	738	-56
Montréal	2,493	2,934	18	24,749	29,648	20	27,242	32,582	20
Oshawa	866	1,092	26	7,764	2,628	-66	8,630	3,720	-57
Ottawa-Gatineau	2,951	3,219	9	17,664	14,040	-21	20,615	17,259	-16
Gatineau	75	752	##	1,788	3,612	102	1,863	4,364	134
Ottawa	2,876	2,467	-14	15,876	10,428	-34	18,752	12,895	-31
Peterborough	219	115	-47	816	72	-91	1,035	187	-82
Québec	907	976	8	8,652	7,932	-8	9,559	8,908	-7
Regina	190	397	109	756	132	-83	946	529	-44
Saguenay	133	196	47	24	192	##	157	388	147
St. Catharines-Niagara	1,083	941	-13	1,224	936	-24	2,307	1,877	-19
Saint John	120	324	170	288	408	42	408	732	79
St. John's	555	274	-51	48	48	-	603	322	-47
Saskatoon	665	787	18	612	108	-82	1,277	895	-30
Sherbrooke	632	355	-44	1,440	1,920	33	2,072	2,275	10
Thunder Bay	33	78	136	0	24	##	33	102	209
Toronto	5,214	6,504	25	57,024	25,644	-55	62,238	32,148	-48
Trois-Rivières	227	129	-43	144	360	150	371	489	32
Vancouver	3,218	2,770	-14	26,496	18,708	-29	29,714	21,478	-28
Victoria	562	668	19	2,172	1,656	-24	2,734	2,324	-15
Windsor	537	742	38	1,356	1,596	18	1,893	2,338	24
Winnipeg	1,394	1,604	15	2,376	876	-63	3,770	2,480	-34