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Canadian housing starts trend lower in March

Ottawa, April 19, 2022

The trend in housing starts was 252,497 units in March, down from 253,296 units in February, 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.

“On a trend and monthly SAAR basis, the level of housing starts activity in Canada remains historically high, hovering above 200,000 units since June 2020; however, the trend in housing starts posted a small decline from February to March,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. “The decline in the monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas, was driven by lower multi-unit starts, which were partially offset by higher single-detached starts in March. Among Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Montreal was the only market to post growth in total SAAR starts, which was driven by higher multi-unit starts.”

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 clearer picture of upcoming new housing supply. 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 total housing starts for all areas in Canada in March was 246,243 units, a decrease of 2% from February. The SAAR of total urban starts decreased by 2% to 220,708 units in March. Multi-unit urban starts decreased by 5% to 154,876 units, while single-detached urban starts increased by 8% to 65,832 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 25,535 units.

Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction Data are accessible in English and French on our website and the CMHC Housing Market Information Portal. Housing starts data is available on the eleventh business day each month. We will release the April data on May 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:

Media Relations, CMHC
media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

March Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Table 1: Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
Single-Detached All Others Total
March 2021 March 2022 % March 2021 March 2022 % March 2021 March 2022 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L. 12 29 142 11 14 27 23 43 87
P.E.I. 10 20 100 2 53 ## 12 73 ##
N.S. 83 60 -28 209 75 -64 292 135 -54
N.B. 11 17 55 4 269 ## 15 286 ##
Atlantic 116 126 9 226 411 82 342 537 57
Qc 722 484 -33 3,673 3,497 -5 4,395 3,981 -9
Ont. 1,997 1,630 -18 6,663 4,584 -31 8,660 6,214 -28
Man. 207 103 -50 145 434 199 352 537 53
Sask. 96 104 8 337 56 -83 433 160 -63
Alta. 875 1,079 23 1,099 1,200 9 1,974 2,279 15
Prairies 1,178 1,286 9 1,581 1,690 7 2,759 2,976 8
B.C. 695 646 -7 4,838 1,745 -64 5,533 2,391 -57
Canada (10,000+) 4,708 4,172 -11 16,981 11,927 -30 21,689 16,099 -26
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 40 42 5 24 45 88 64 87 36
Barrie 14 65 364 0 287 ## 14 352 ##
Belleville 20 9 -55 0 0 - 20 9 -55
Brantford 31 30 -3 13 28 115 44 58 32
Calgary 337 543 61 721 699 -3 1,058 1,242 17
Edmonton 417 454 9 325 462 42 742 916 23
Greater Sudbury 4 10 150 0 17 ## 4 27 ##
Guelph 7 21 200 19 0 -100 26 21 -19
Halifax 39 41 5 157 56 -64 196 97 -51
Hamilton 66 75 14 54 152 181 120 227 89
Kelowna 83 52 -37 174 149 -14 257 201 -22
Kingston 45 7 -84 200 0 -100 245 7 -97
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 79 58 -27 286 275 -4 365 333 -9
Lethbridge 25 7 -72 14 6 -57 39 13 -67
London 158 97 -39 77 107 39 235 204 -13
Moncton 3 3 - 0 74 ## 3 77 ##
Montréal 257 141 -45 2,211 1,756 -21 2,468 1,897 -23
Oshawa 117 90 -23 309 66 -79 426 156 -63
Ottawa-Gatineau 333 199 -40 863 1,119 30 1,196 1,318 10
Gatineau 28 64 129 154 457 197 182 521 186
Ottawa 305 135 -56 709 662 -7 1,014 797 -21
Peterborough 16 29 81 0 0 - 16 29 81
Québec 115 107 -7 452 766 69 567 873 54
Regina 22 28 27 78 39 -50 100 67 -33
Saguenay 6 14 133 20 20 - 26 34 31
St. Catharines-Niagara 100 55 -45 188 80 -57 288 135 -53
Saint John 3 7 133 0 0 - 3 7 133
St. John's 11 28 155 5 14 180 16 42 163
Saskatoon 73 70 -4 259 16 -94 332 86 -74
Sherbrooke 56 22 -61 275 74 -73 331 96 -71
Thunder Bay 1 0 -100 0 0 - 1 0 -100
Toronto 505 546 8 4,604 2,617 -43 5,109 3,163 -38
Trois-Rivières 26 13 -50 40 6 -85 66 19 -71
Vancouver 261 261 - 3,450 902 -74 3,711 1,163 -69
Victoria 73 60 -18 528 61 -88 601 121 -80
Windsor 19 50 163 20 10 -50 39 60 54
Winnipeg 175 78 -55 119 305 156 294 383 30
Total 3,537 3,312 -6 15,485 10,208 -34 19,022 13,520 -29

Data for 2021 and 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey
## not calculable / extreme value

Table 2: Housing Start Data - Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
Single-Detached All Others Total
February 2022 March 2022 % February 2022 March 2022 % February 2022 March 2022 %
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L. 1,073 1,482 38 175 222 27 1,248 1,704 37
P.E.I. 281 744 165 120 636 430 401 1,380 244
N.S. 1,167 1,178 1 1,457 933 -36 2,624 2,111 -20
N.B. 949 1,729 82 340 3,786 ## 1,289 5,515 328
Qc 8,079 7,847 -3 39,142 50,624 29 47,221 58,471 24
Ont. 23,524 26,051 11 75,520 57,551 -24 99,044 83,602 -16
Man. 2,221 1,326 -40 6,120 5,208 -15 8,341 6,534 -22
Sask. 1,673 1,619 -3 1,824 672 -63 3,497 2,291 -34
Alta. 14,227 15,758 11 15,775 14,644 -7 30,002 30,402 1
B.C. 7,737 8,098 5 23,334 20,600 -12 31,071 28,698 -8
Canada (10,000+) 60,931 65,832 8 163,807 154,876 -5 224,738 220,708 -2
Canada (All Areas) 78,321 83,911 7 171,925 162,331 -6 250,246 246,243 -2
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 451 479 6 1,008 540 -46 1,459 1,019 -30
Barrie 1,046 2,292 119 252 3,444 ## 1,298 5,736 342
Belleville 691 230 -67 0 0 - 691 230 -67
Brantford 421 264 -37 72 336 367 493 600 22
Calgary 5,805 7,980 37 9,132 8,388 -8 14,937 16,368 10
Edmonton 5,755 6,156 7 4,728 5,544 17 10,483 11,700 12
Greater Sudbury 134 1,382 ## 0 204 ## 134 1,586 ##
Guelph 202 264 31 48 0 -100 250 264 6
Halifax 764 795 4 1,080 672 -38 1,844 1,467 -20
Hamilton 862 877 2 1,776 1,824 3 2,638 2,701 2
Kelowna 581 582 0 324 1,788 452 905 2,370 162
Kingston 157 117 -25 108 0 -100 265 117 -56
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 1,234 719 -42 1,044 3,300 216 2,278 4,019 76
Lethbridge 295 135 -54 1,188 72 -94 1,483 207 -86
London 1,670 1,504 -10 588 1,284 118 2,258 2,788 23
Moncton 189 286 51 24 888 ## 213 1,174 451
Montréal 2,402 2,357 -2 13,704 21,122 54 16,106 23,479 46
Oshawa 597 1,287 116 372 792 113 969 2,079 115
Ottawa-Gatineau 2,704 3,285 21 8,916 13,428 51 11,620 16,713 44
Gatineau 200 1,124 462 4,572 5,484 20 4,772 6,608 38
Ottawa 2,504 2,161 -14 4,344 7,944 83 6,848 10,105 48
Peterborough 439 586 33 0 0 - 439 586 33
Québec 1,079 1,405 30 4,092 9,192 125 5,171 10,597 105
Regina 335 393 17 156 468 200 491 861 75
Saguenay 981 586 -40 216 240 11 1,197 826 -31
St. Catharines-Niagara 730 792 8 1,152 960 -17 1,882 1,752 -7
Saint John 352 439 25 0 0 - 352 439 25
St. John's 1,036 1,443 39 132 168 27 1,168 1,611 38
Saskatoon 1,152 1,050 -9 1,656 192 -88 2,808 1,242 -56
Sherbrooke 844 284 -66 1,200 888 -26 2,044 1,172 -43
Thunder Bay 96 90 -6 48 0 -100 144 90 -38
Toronto 9,355 8,337 -11 56,364 31,404 -44 65,719 39,741 -40
Trois-Rivières 111 390 251 900 72 -92 1,011 462 -54
Vancouver 3,731 3,394 -9 13,416 10,824 -19 17,147 14,218 -17
Victoria 644 725 13 4,404 732 -83 5,048 1,457 -71
Windsor 931 1,240 33 120 120 - 1,051 1,360 29
Winnipeg 1,804 961 -47 4,980 3,660 -27 6,784 4,621 -32

Data for 2021 and 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey
## not calculable / extreme value

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Date Published: April 19, 2022

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