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Canadian Housing Starts Trended Lower in December

Ottawa, January 9, 2020

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The trend in housing starts was 212,160 units in December 2019, compared to 219,921 units in November 2019, 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 decreased in December,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. “The declines are primarily led by lower-trending multi-family starts in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. However, the stable starts at year-end in Vancouver and significant growth in Calgary helped to partially offset the declines in other major centres.”

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 197,329 units in December, a decrease of 3% from 204,320 units in November. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 4% in December to 185,934 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 5% to 138,049 units in December while single-detached urban starts increased by 1% to 47,885 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11,395 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.

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
December 2018 December 2019 % December 2018 December 2019 % December 2018 December 2019 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L. 39 42 8 18 24 33 57 66 16
P.E.I. 24 19 -21 76 88 16 100 107 7
N.S. 126 159 26 269 358 33 395 517 31
N.B. 52 45 -13 123 40 -67 175 85 -51
Atlantic 241 265 10 486 510 5 727 775 7
Qc 472 504 7 4,152 2,674 -36 4,624 3,178 -31
Ont. 1,657 1,586 -4 3,992 3,147 -21 5,649 4,733 -16
Man. 144 136 -6 297 226 -24 441 362 -18
Sask. 104 62 -40 37 130 251 141 192 36
Alta. 697 831 19 734 2,270 209 1,431 3,101 117
Prairies 945 1,029 9 1,068 2,626 146 2,013 3,655 82
B.C. 725 490 -32 3,216 2,941 -9 3,941 3,431 -13
Canada (10,000+) 4,040 3,874 -4 12,914 11,898 -8 16,954 15,772 -7
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 33 30 -9 258 180 -30 291 210 -28
Barrie 13 20 54 0 0 - 13 20 54
Belleville 27 39 44 4 32 ## 31 71 129
Brantford 10 19 90 62 22 -65 72 41 -43
Calgary 223 352 58 307 1,778 479 530 2,130 302
Edmonton 332 338 2 306 404 32 638 742 16
Greater Sudbury 8 9 13 4 2 -50 12 11 -8
Guelph 14 10 -29 153 9 -94 167 19 -89
Halifax 63 76 21 237 294 24 300 370 23
Hamilton 15 27 80 119 33 -72 134 60 -55
Kelowna 65 34 -48 219 46 -79 284 80 -72
Kingston 25 40 60 213 20 -91 238 60 -75
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 79 76 -4 75 523 ## 154 599 289
Lethbridge 33 23 -30 12 8 -33 45 31 -31
London 103 118 15 33 90 173 136 208 53
Moncton 9 15 67 105 23 -78 114 38 -67
Montréal 165 160 -3 2,741 1,391 -49 2,906 1,551 -47
Oshawa 63 62 -2 54 217 302 117 279 138
Ottawa-Gatineau 260 260 - 298 594 99 558 854 53
Gatineau 51 39 -24 40 245 ## 91 284 212
Ottawa 209 221 6 258 349 35 467 570 22
Peterborough 23 10 -57 13 0 -100 36 10 -72
Québec 29 60 107 652 186 -71 681 246 -64
Regina 24 8 -67 17 20 18 41 28 -32
Saguenay 13 21 62 31 4 -87 44 25 -43
St. Catharines-Niagara 66 88 33 145 160 10 211 248 18
Saint John 21 3 -86 1 0 -100 22 3 -86
St. John's 30 30 - 15 19 27 45 49 9
Saskatoon 74 48 -35 14 102 ## 88 150 70
Sherbrooke 25 42 68 41 163 298 66 205 211
Thunder Bay 6 6 - 0 0 - 6 6 -
Toronto 540 407 -25 2,654 1,407 -47 3,194 1,814 -43
Trois-Rivières 16 11 -31 82 36 -56 98 47 -52
Vancouver 375 208 -45 1,637 2,070 26 2,012 2,278 13
Victoria 43 42 -2 732 215 -71 775 257 -67
Windsor 45 60 33 8 36 350 53 96 81
Winnipeg 119 106 -11 210 181 -14 329 287 -13
Total 2,989 2,858 -4 11,452 10,265 -10 14,441 13,123 -9

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
November 2019 December 2019 % November 2019 December 2019 % November 2019 December 2019 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L. 597 432 -28 199 292 47 796 724 -9
P.E.I. 150 266 77 696 1,056 52 846 1,322 56
N.S. 1,144 1,697 48 2,277 4,271 88 3,421 5,968 74
N.B. 778 626 -20 3,182 549 -83 3,960 1,175 -70
Qc 6,105 6,412 5 34,114 26,775 -22 40,219 33,187 -17
Ont. 18,205 18,504 2 46,019 38,094 -17 64,224 56,598 -12
Man. 1,786 1,953 9 3,540 2,712 -23 5,326 4,665 -12
Sask. 1,393 792 -43 432 1,560 261 1,825 2,352 29
Alta. 10,821 10,684 -1 15,058 27,592 83 25,879 38,276 48
B.C. 6,384 6,519 2 40,263 35,148 -13 46,647 41,667 -11
Canada (10,000+) 47,363 47,885 1 145,780 138,049 -5 193,143 185,934 -4
Canada (All Areas) 55,693 56,323 1 148,626 141,005 -5 204,320 197,329 -3
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 388 357 -8 1,248 2,160 73 1,636 2,517 54
Barrie 259 320 24 3,120 0 -100 3,379 320 -91
Belleville 527 493 -6 144 384 167 671 877 31
Brantford 561 416 -26 360 264 -27 921 680 -26
Calgary 4,192 4,621 10 6,912 21,336 209 11,104 25,957 134
Edmonton 4,418 4,198 -5 6,588 4,848 -26 11,006 9,046 -18
Greater Sudbury 153 147 -4 0 24 ## 153 171 12
Guelph 213 142 -33 432 108 -75 645 250 -61
Halifax 703 787 12 1,536 3,528 130 2,239 4,315 93
Hamilton 918 445 -52 3,516 396 -89 4,434 841 -81
Kelowna 540 356 -34 2,952 552 -81 3,492 908 -74
Kingston 325 490 51 72 240 233 397 730 84
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 848 849 0 4,212 6,276 49 5,060 7,125 41
Lethbridge 409 250 -39 144 96 -33 553 346 -37
London 1,206 1,499 24 1,332 1,080 -19 2,538 2,579 2
Moncton 225 253 12 2,412 276 -89 2,637 529 -80
Montréal 2,553 2,281 -11 18,277 16,520 -10 20,830 18,801 -10
Oshawa 543 713 31 1,224 2,604 113 1,767 3,317 88
Ottawa-Gatineau 3,296 2,763 -16 11,376 7,128 -37 14,672 9,891 -33
Gatineau 269 358 33 3,492 2,940 -16 3,761 3,298 -12
Ottawa 3,027 2,405 -21 7,884 4,188 -47 10,911 6,593 -40
Peterborough 177 122 -31 24 0 -100 201 122 -39
Québec 640 843 32 7,140 2,232 -69 7,780 3,075 -60
Regina 540 108 -80 192 240 25 732 348 -52
Saguenay 149 248 66 564 48 -91 713 296 -58
St. Catharines-Niagara 1,369 1,094 -20 1,848 1,920 4 3,217 3,014 -6
Saint John 160 44 -73 24 0 -100 184 44 -76
St. John's 470 301 -36 144 228 58 614 529 -14
Saskatoon 744 552 -26 144 1,224 ## 888 1,776 100
Sherbrooke 519 541 4 1,572 1,956 24 2,091 2,497 19
Thunder Bay 65 147 126 0 0 - 65 147 126
Toronto 3,764 4,022 7 19,992 16,884 -16 23,756 20,906 -12
Trois-Rivières 198 145 -27 540 432 -20 738 577 -22
Vancouver 2,725 2,812 3 24,876 24,840 0 27,601 27,652 0
Victoria 787 683 -13 3,432 2,580 -25 4,219 3,263 -23
Windsor 552 809 47 588 432 -27 1,140 1,241 9
Winnipeg 1,546 1,604 4 2,364 2,172 -8 3,910 3,776 -3

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

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