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.

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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