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Canadian housing starts remained elevated in April

Ottawa, May 17, 2021

The trend in housing starts was 279,055 units in April 2021, up from 272,164 units in March 2021, 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 remained elevated in April, despite a decline in the level of monthly SAAR starts from the record high set in March,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. “In April, multi-family SAAR starts declined or moderated in most CMAs that had seen strong growth in this segment the previous month, including Toronto and Vancouver. Single-detached SAAR starts held steady following a modest increase in March. Nonetheless, the overall trend-level of activity remains elevated as a result of strong activity so far this year.”

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 the multi-unit segment largely drives the market and can vary significantly from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 268,631 units in April, a decrease of 19.8% from 334,759 units in March. The SAAR of urban starts decreased by 16.9% in April to 251,504 units. Multiple urban starts decreased by 22.8% to 251,504 units in April while single-detached urban starts decreased a slight 0.1% to 78,918 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,127 units.

Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction Data are accessible in English and French on our website and the CMHC Housing Market Information Portal. Our analysts are also available to provide further insight into their respective markets. Housing starts data is available on the eleventh business day each month. We will release the May 2021 data on June 15 at 8:15 AM ET.

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:

Audrey-Anne Coulombe
Media Relations, CMHC
613-748-2573
acoulomb@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Table 1: Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over 
Single-Detached All Others Total
April 2020 April 2021 % April 2020 April 2021 % April 2020 April 2021 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L. 9 29 222 1 7 ## 10 36 260
P.E.I. 12 29 142 36 27 -25 48 56 17
N.S. 97 67 -31 37 135 265 134 202 51
N.B. 32 74 131 94 154 64 126 228 81
Atlantic 150 199 33 168 323 92 318 522 64
Qc 0 947 ## 0 4,783 ## 0 5,730 ##
Ont. 1,136 2,440 115 6,200 5,347 -14 7,336 7,787 6
Man. 153 269 76 388 166 -57 541 435 -20
Sask. 63 164 160 110 205 86 173 369 113
Alta. 636 1,317 107 1,283 1,443 12 1,919 2,760 44
Prairies 852 1,750 105 1,781 1,814 2 2,633 3,564 35
B.C. 598 772 29 1,759 2,260 28 2,357 3,032 29
Canada (10,000+) 2,736 6,108 123 9,908 14,527 47 12,644 20,635 63
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 30 20 -33 9 32 256 39 52 33
Barrie 23 21 -9 11 111 ## 34 132 288
Belleville 52 42 -19 4 18 350 56 60 7
Brantford 24 20 -17 137 16 -88 161 36 -78
Calgary 241 564 134 334 735 120 575 1,299 126
Edmonton 310 587 89 880 642 -27 1,190 1,229 3
Greater Sudbury 6 24 300 2 0 -100 8 24 200
Guelph 17 34 100 0 99 ## 17 133 ##
Halifax 75 28 -63 10 88 ## 85 116 36
Hamilton 27 176 ## 43 342 ## 70 518 ##
Kelowna 36 58 61 18 74 311 54 132 144
Kingston 28 40 43 13 17 31 41 57 39
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 50 98 96 40 803 ## 90 901 ##
Lethbridge 12 43 258 9 12 33 21 55 162
London 142 277 95 145 478 230 287 755 163
Moncton 12 31 158 84 94 12 96 125 30
Montréal 0 386 ## 0 3,094 ## 0 3,480 ##
Oshawa 54 162 200 41 112 173 95 274 188
Ottawa-Gatineau 223 342 53 613 1,216 98 836 1,558 86
Gatineau 0 41 ## 0 547 ## 0 588 ##
Ottawa 223 301 35 613 669 9 836 970 16
Peterborough 17 21 24 28 0 -100 45 21 -53
Québec 0 158 ## 0 487 ## 0 645 ##
Regina 19 33 74 61 27 -56 80 60 -25
Saguenay 0 39 ## 0 22 ## 0 61 ##
St. Catharines-Niagara 86 132 53 39 94 141 125 226 81
Saint John 12 28 133 0 48 ## 12 76 ##
St. John's 7 27 286 0 7 ## 7 34 386
Saskatoon 38 125 229 48 174 263 86 299 248
Sherbrooke 0 63 ## 0 176 ## 0 239 ##
Thunder Bay 0 8 ## 0 4 ## 0 12 ##
Toronto 182 613 237 4,880 2,189 -55 5,062 2,802 -45
Trois-Rivières 0 40 ## 0 41 ## 0 81 ##
Vancouver 284 293 3 1,001 1,330 33 1,285 1,623 26
Victoria 52 93 79 415 265 -36 467 358 -23
Windsor 39 57 46 30 126 320 69 183 165
Winnipeg 134 242 81 347 154 -56 481 396 -18
Total 2,232 4,925 121 9,242 13,127 42 11,474 18,052 57

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

Table 2: Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
Single-Detached All Others Total
March 2021 April 2021 % March 2021 April 2021 % March 2021 April 2021 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L. 789 853 8 138 95 -31 927 948 2
P.E.I. 422 433 3 24 324 ## 446 757 70
N.S. 1,595 1,242 -22 2,676 1,721 -36 4,271 2,963 -31
N.B. 1,185 1,974 67 57 2,114 ## 1,242 4,088 229
Qc 11,312 9,686 -14 58,573 53,666 -8 69,885 63,352 -9
Ont. 35,637 35,719 0 84,595 66,349 -22 120,232 102,068 -15
Man. 2,650 3,039 15 1,740 1,992 14 4,390 5,031 15
Sask. 1,786 2,498 40 4,044 2,460 -39 5,830 4,958 -15
Alta. 13,986 14,790 6 13,933 16,813 21 27,919 31,603 13
B.C. 9,609 8,684 -10 57,912 27,052 -53 67,521 35,736 -47
Canada (10,000+) 78,971 78,918 0 223,692 172,586 -23 302,663 251,504 -17
Canada (All Areas) 101,022 91,469 -9 233,738 177,161 -24 334,759 268,631 -20
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 523 284 -46 288 384 33 811 668 -18
Barrie 562 906 61 0 1,332 ## 562 2,238 298
Belleville 544 515 -5 0 216 ## 544 731 34
Brantford 283 364 29 156 192 23 439 556 27
Calgary 5,430 6,186 14 8,652 8,820 2 14,082 15,006 7
Edmonton 6,298 6,713 7 3,900 7,704 98 10,198 14,417 41
Greater Sudbury 5,036 1,063 -79 0 0 - 5,036 1,063 -79
Guelph 96 491 411 228 1,188 421 324 1,679 418
Halifax 809 505 -38 1,884 1,056 -44 2,693 1,561 -42
Hamilton 1,020 1,975 94 648 4,104 ## 1,668 6,079 264
Kelowna 1,033 592 -43 2,088 888 -57 3,121 1,480 -53
Kingston 693 492 -29 2,400 204 -92 3,093 696 -77
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 949 1,120 18 3,432 9,636 181 4,381 10,756 146
Lethbridge 447 568 27 168 144 -14 615 712 16
London 2,406 3,352 39 924 5,736 ## 3,330 9,088 173
Moncton 333 594 78 0 1,128 ## 333 1,722 417
Montréal 4,103 3,751 -9 26,477 35,845 35 30,580 39,596 29
Oshawa 2,034 2,197 8 3,708 1,344 -64 5,742 3,541 -38
Ottawa-Gatineau 5,474 5,096 -7 10,356 14,592 41 15,830 19,688 24
Gatineau 516 590 14 1,848 6,564 255 2,364 7,154 203
Ottawa 4,958 4,506 -9 8,508 8,028 -6 13,466 12,534 -7
Peterborough 406 258 -36 0 0 - 406 258 -36
Québec 1,683 1,457 -13 5,424 5,844 8 7,107 7,301 3
Regina 301 473 57 936 324 -65 1,237 797 -36
Saguenay 244 434 78 240 264 10 484 698 44
St. Catharines-Niagara 1,521 1,433 -6 2,256 1,128 -50 3,777 2,561 -32
Saint John 279 481 72 0 576 ## 279 1,057 279
St. John's 719 804 12 60 84 40 779 888 14
Saskatoon 1,401 2,031 45 3,108 2,088 -33 4,509 4,119 -9
Sherbrooke 726 735 1 3,300 2,112 -36 4,026 2,847 -29
Thunder Bay 1,155 853 -26 0 48 ## 1,155 901 -22
Toronto 8,346 7,683 -8 55,248 26,268 -52 63,594 33,951 -47
Trois-Rivières 810 369 -54 480 492 2 1,290 861 -33
Vancouver 3,648 3,263 -11 41,400 15,960 -61 45,048 19,223 -57
Victoria 910 1,052 16 6,336 3,180 -50 7,246 4,232 -42
Windsor 562 646 15 240 1,512 ## 802 2,158 169
Winnipeg 2,128 2,551 20 1,428 1,848 29 3,556 4,399 24

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

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Date Published: May 17, 2021

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