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  • Canadian housing starts trended slightly higher in May
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Canadian housing starts trended slightly higher in May

Ottawa, June 15, 2021

The trend in housing starts was 280,779 units in May 2021, up slightly from 278,462 units in April 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 May, registering a slight increase from April,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist. “In May, higher multi-family SAAR starts offset lower single-detached starts in Canada’s urban areas, contributing to the increase in the National trend. However, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal starts trended lower in May, as these markets continued to moderate from the historical highs recorded in the first quarter of the 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 275,916 units in May, an increase of 3.2% from 267,449 units in April. The SAAR of urban starts increased by 1.8% in May to 254,647 units. Multiple urban starts increased by 10.9% to 190,530 units in May while single-detached urban starts decreased by 18% to 64,117 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 21,269 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 June 2021 data on July 16 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
May 2020 May 2021 % May 2020 May 2021 % May 2020 May 2021 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L. 16 51 219 1 16 ## 17 67 294
P.E.I. 17 60 253 72 46 -36 89 106 19
N.S. 110 63 -43 166 609 267 276 672 143
N.B. 56 114 104 225 446 98 281 560 99
Atlantic 199 288 45 464 1,117 141 663 1,405 112
Qc 1,006 985 -2 4,313 4,166 -3 5,319 5,151 -3
Ont. 1,651 2,507 52 3,252 5,439 67 4,903 7,946 62
Man. 141 223 58 181 320 77 322 543 69
Sask. 82 176 115 78 280 259 160 456 185
Alta. 632 1,121 77 940 1,738 85 1,572 2,859 82
Prairies 855 1,520 78 1,199 2,338 95 2,054 3,858 88
B.C. 578 686 19 2,497 2,925 17 3,075 3,611 17
Canada (10,000+) 4,289 5,986 40 11,725 15,985 36 16,014 21,971 37
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 36 30 -17 14 27 93 50 57 14
Barrie 106 66 -38 10 158 ## 116 224 93
Belleville 18 52 189 12 15 25 30 67 123
Brantford 32 45 41 32 57 78 64 102 59
Calgary 262 460 76 459 1,121 144 721 1,581 119
Edmonton 275 508 85 395 552 40 670 1,060 58
Greater Sudbury 2 21 ## 2 18 ## 4 39 ##
Guelph 27 12 -56 0 9 ## 27 21 -22
Halifax 84 13 -85 137 554 304 221 567 157
Hamilton 52 29 -44 57 307 439 109 336 208
Kelowna 43 54 26 113 41 -64 156 95 -39
Kingston 12 39 225 200 15 -93 212 54 -75
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 52 110 112 79 424 437 131 534 308
Lethbridge 11 29 164 6 15 150 17 44 159
London 46 234 409 94 325 246 140 559 299
Moncton 18 43 139 153 263 72 171 306 79
Montréal 406 308 -24 2,502 2,129 -15 2,908 2,437 -16
Oshawa 83 188 127 95 656 ## 178 844 374
Ottawa-Gatineau 334 408 22 686 1,310 91 1,020 1,718 68
Gatineau 52 47 -10 275 418 52 327 465 42
Ottawa 282 361 28 411 892 117 693 1,253 81
Peterborough 24 31 29 13 0 -100 37 31 -16
Québec 172 138 -20 842 864 3 1,014 1,002 -1
Regina 11 39 255 31 14 -55 42 53 26
Saguenay 23 42 83 40 30 -25 63 72 14
St. Catharines-Niagara 66 90 36 29 172 493 95 262 176
Saint John 16 25 56 2 7 250 18 32 78
St. John's 11 47 327 0 14 ## 11 61 455
Saskatoon 65 128 97 46 259 463 111 387 249
Sherbrooke 36 49 36 114 147 29 150 196 31
Thunder Bay 3 14 367 24 7 -71 27 21 -22
Toronto 530 599 13 2,028 2,057 1 2,558 2,656 4
Trois-Rivières 36 34 -6 121 54 -55 157 88 -44
Vancouver 241 258 7 1,853 2,300 24 2,094 2,558 22
Victoria 55 62 13 205 131 -36 260 193 -26
Windsor 52 69 33 24 167 ## 76 236 211
Winnipeg 115 187 63 138 306 122 253 493 95
Total 3,355 4,461 33 10,556 14,525 38 13,911 18,986 36

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
April 2021 May 2021 % April 2021 May 2021 % April 2021 May 2021 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L. 834 610 -27 105 199 90 939 809 -14
P.E.I. 440 562 28 324 552 70 764 1,114 46
N.S. 1,214 865 -29 1,693 7,301 331 2,907 8,166 181
N.B. 2,021 1,342 -34 2,070 5,009 142 4,091 6,351 55
Qc 9,656 8,648 -10 52,579 49,172 -6 62,235 57,820 -7
Ont. 35,280 27,237 -23 66,421 64,920 -2 101,701 92,157 -9
Man. 2,996 2,550 -15 1,992 3,840 93 4,988 6,390 28
Sask. 2,493 2,088 -16 2,460 3,360 37 4,953 5,448 10
Alta. 14,742 12,567 -15 17,201 21,142 23 31,943 33,709 6
B.C. 8,514 7,648 -10 27,028 35,035 30 35,542 42,683 20
Canada (10,000+) 78,190 64,117 -18 171,873 190,530 11 250,063 254,647 2
Canada (All Areas) 90,951 79,955 -12 176,500 195,962 11 267,449 275,916 3
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 269 288 7 384 324 -16 653 612 -6
Barrie 881 642 -27 1,332 1,896 42 2,213 2,538 15
Belleville 492 455 -8 216 180 -17 708 635 -10
Brantford 365 473 30 192 684 256 557 1,157 108
Calgary 6,301 4,914 -22 8,820 13,452 53 15,121 18,366 21
Edmonton 6,607 5,920 -10 7,704 6,624 -14 14,311 12,544 -12
Greater Sudbury 1,008 434 -57 0 216 ## 1,008 650 -36
Guelph 500 105 -79 1,188 108 -91 1,688 213 -87
Halifax 498 165 -67 1,056 6,648 ## 1,554 6,813 338
Hamilton 2,215 357 -84 4,104 3,684 -10 6,319 4,041 -36
Kelowna 620 578 -7 888 492 -45 1,508 1,070 -29
Kingston 483 465 -4 204 180 -12 687 645 -6
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 1,173 1,457 24 9,636 5,088 -47 10,809 6,545 -39
Lethbridge 560 442 -21 144 180 25 704 622 -12
London 3,230 2,445 -24 5,736 3,900 -32 8,966 6,345 -29
Moncton 594 486 -18 1,128 3,156 180 1,722 3,642 111
Montréal 3,628 2,605 -28 35,808 25,347 -29 39,436 27,952 -29
Oshawa 2,165 1,820 -16 1,344 7,872 486 3,509 9,692 176
Ottawa-Gatineau 4,987 4,480 -10 14,592 15,720 8 19,579 20,200 3
Gatineau 580 529 -9 6,564 5,016 -24 7,144 5,545 -22
Ottawa 4,407 3,951 -10 8,028 10,704 33 12,435 14,655 18
Peterborough 256 284 11 0 0 - 256 284 11
Québec 1,441 1,131 -22 5,844 10,368 77 7,285 11,499 58
Regina 518 631 22 324 168 -48 842 799 -5
Saguenay 440 375 -15 264 360 36 704 735 4
St. Catharines-Niagara 1,454 1,376 -5 1,128 2,064 83 2,582 3,440 33
Saint John 464 264 -43 576 84 -85 1,040 348 -67
St. John's 773 706 -9 84 168 100 857 874 2
Saskatoon 1,993 1,390 -30 2,088 3,108 49 4,081 4,498 10
Sherbrooke 718 665 -7 2,112 1,764 -16 2,830 2,429 -14
Thunder Bay 715 298 -58 48 84 75 763 382 -50
Toronto 7,445 6,281 -16 26,268 24,684 -6 33,713 30,965 -8
Trois-Rivières 357 221 -38 492 648 32 849 869 2
Vancouver 3,165 3,001 -5 15,960 27,600 73 19,125 30,601 60
Victoria 1,042 675 -35 3,180 1,572 -51 4,222 2,247 -47
Windsor 661 703 6 1,512 2,004 33 2,173 2,707 25
Winnipeg 2,518 2,071 -18 1,848 3,672 99 4,366 5,743 32

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

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Date Published: June 15, 2021

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