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Housing starts declined in March

Ottawa, April 19, 2023

The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada declined 11% in March (213,865 units) compared to February (240,927 units) according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The monthly SAAR of total urban starts (centres 10,000 population and over) declined 12%, with 192,545 units recorded in March. Multi-unit urban starts decreased 11% to 151,769 units, while single-detached urban starts decreased 16% to 40,776 units.

Among the Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal CMAs, only Vancouver recorded an increase in total SAAR housing starts in March, up 98% due to more than twice as many multi-unit starts compared to February. Montreal declined 12% and Toronto declined 26%.

The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 21,320 units.

The trend in housing starts was 240,669 units in March, down 6% from 254,658 units in February. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

“Despite the national decline in March, the SAAR of housing starts and the trend appear to be returning to pre-pandemic levels. With interest rates remaining high, it continues to be challenging for developers and homebuilders to get projects started. We will need to find innovative ways to deliver more housing supply to keep up with demand and ultimately improve affordability,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist.

Key facts:

  • 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 housing starts data on May 15 at 8:15 AM ET.
  • 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.
  • Definitions and methodology to better understand the foundations of the Starts and Completions and Market Absorption surveys.

As a trusted source of housing information, CMHC provides unbiased housing-related data, research, and market information to help close knowledge gaps, and deepen understanding of complex housing issues to inform future policy decisions. Housing starts facilitate the analysis of monthly, quarterly, and year-over-year activity in the new home market. The data we collect as part of our Starts and Completions and Market Absorption surveys helps us obtain a clearer picture of upcoming new housing supply and is used as part of our various housing reports.

For more information, follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Additional information:

  • Latest Housing Supply Report (HSR) 
  • Housing Supply Report (HSR) — Fall Edition
  • The road ahead for the economy and housing — fall 2022 update
  • Canada’s housing supply shortage: skilled labour capacity
  • Understanding Canada's housing supply shortages

For information on this release:

To request an interview with a CMHC market analyst, contact:

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

March Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
  Single-Detached All Others Total
Mar. 2022 Mar. 2023 % Mar. 2022 Mar. 2023 % Mar. 2022 Mar. 2023 %
N.-L. 29 10 -66 14 2 -86 43 12 -72
P.E.I. 20 7 -65 53 7 -87 73 14 -81
N.S. 60 92 53 75 139 85 135 231 71
N.B. 17 19 12 269 42 -84 286 61 -79
Atlantic 126 128 2 411 190 -54 537 318 -41
Qc 484 224 -54 3,497 1,575 -55 3,981 1,799 -55
Ont. 1,630 1,102 -32 4,584 4,690 2 6,214 5,792 -7
Man. 103 110 7 434 496 14 537 606 13
Sask. 104 56 -46 56 158 182 160 214 34
Alta. 1,079 698 -35 1,200 1,311 9 2,279 2,009 -12
Prairies 1,286 864 -33 1,690 1,965 16 2,976 2,829 -5
B.C. 646 399 -38 1,745 3,619 107 2,391 4,018 68
Canada (10,000+) 4,172 2,717 -35 11,927 12,039 1 16,099 14,756 -8

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Metropolitan Areas)
  Single-Detached All Others Total
Mar. 2022 Mar. 2023 % Mar. 2022 Mar. 2023 % Mar. 2022 Mar. 2023 %
Abbotsford – Mission 42 20 -52 45 13 -71 87 33 -62
Barrie 65 45 -31 287 33 -89 352 78 -78
Belleville – Quinte West 9 3 -67 0 4 ## 9 7 -22
Brantford 30 21 -30 28 33 18 58 54 -7
Calgary 543 341 -37 699 753 8 1,242 1,094 -12
Chilliwack 48 9 -81 174 0 -100 222 9 -96
Drummondville 33 8 -76 27 37 37 60 45 -25
Edmonton 454 282 -38 462 525 14 916 807 -12
Fredericton 6 7 17 195 4 -98 201 11 -95
Greater / Grand Sudbury 10 5 -50 17 4 -76 27 9 -67
Guelph 21 3 -86 0 255 ## 21 258 ##
Halifax 41 41 - 56 123 120 97 164 69
Hamilton 75 19 -75 152 46 -70 227 65 -71
Kamloops 19 3 -84 5 8 60 24 11 -54
Kelowna 52 62 19 149 207 39 201 269 34
Kingston 7 13 86 0 15 ## 7 28 300
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo 58 97 67 275 58 -79 333 155 -53
Lethbridge 7 5 -29 6 0 -100 13 5 -62
London 97 32 -67 107 164 53 204 196 -4
Moncton 3 1 -67 74 2 -97 77 3 -96
Montréal 141 61 -57 1,756 757 -57 1,897 818 -57
Nanaimo 37 13 -65 30 9 -70 67 22 -67
Oshawa 90 47 -48 66 32 -52 156 79 -49
Ottawa – Gatineau 199 129 -35 1,119 1,155 3 1,318 1,284 -3
Gatineau 64 30 -53 457 103 -77 521 133 -74
Ottawa 135 99 -27 662 1,052 59 797 1,151 44
Peterborough 29 17 -41 0 0 - 29 17 -41
Québec 107 44 -59 766 239 -69 873 283 -68
Red Deer 2 3 50 0 2 ## 2 5 150
Regina 28 5 -82 39 70 79 67 75 12
Saguenay 14 3 -79 20 11 -45 34 14 -59
St. Catharines – Niagara 55 56 2 80 40 -50 135 96 -29
Saint John 7 5 -29 0 0 - 7 5 -29
St. John's 28 10 -64 14 2 -86 42 12 -71
Saskatoon 70 50 -29 16 61 281 86 111 29
Sherbrooke 22 12 -45 74 118 59 96 130 35
Thunder Bay 0 0 - 0 0 - 0 0 -
Toronto 546 402 -26 2,617 2,780 6 3,163 3,182 1
Trois-Rivières 13 6 -54 6 41 ## 19 47 147
Vancouver 261 193 -26 902 2,823 213 1,163 3,016 159
Victoria 60 28 -53 61 297 387 121 325 169
Windsor 50 14 -72 10 34 240 60 48 -20
Winnipeg 78 97 24 305 436 43 383 533 39
Total 3,457 2,212 -36 10,639 11,191 5 14,096 13,403 -5

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Provinces — 10,000+)
  Single-Detached  All Others Total
Feb. 2023 Mar. 2023 % Feb. 2023 Mar. 2023 % Feb. 2023 Mar. 2023 %
N.L. 545 470 -14 3 26 ## 548 496 -9
P.E.I. 403 288 -29 192 84 -56 595 372 -37
N.S. 1,481 1,866 26 2,465 1,735 -30 3,946 3,601 -9
N.B. 1,380 1,232 -11 144 573 298 1,524 1,805 18
Qc 5,677 3,556 -37 33,111 23,447 -29 38,788 27,003 -30
Ont. 19,261 16,343 -15 76,846 59,038 -23 96,107 75,381 -22
Man. 1,780 1,564 -12 6,612 5,952 -10 8,392 7,516 -10
Sask. 565 804 42 5,232 1,896 -64 5,797 2,700 -53
Alta. 12,305 9,839 -20 17,392 15,838 -9 29,697 25,677 -14
B.C. 5,359 4,814 -10 29,033 43,180 49 34,392 47,994 40
Canada (10,000+) 48,756 40,776 -16 171,030 151,769 -11 219,786 192,545 -12
Canada (All Areas) 64,021 56,468 -12 176,905 157,395 -11 240,927 213,865 -11

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Metropolitan Areas)
  Single-Detached All Others Total
Feb. 2023 Mar. 2023 % Feb. 2023 Mar. 2023 % Feb. 2023 Mar. 2023 %
Abbotsford – Mission 272 227 -17 924 156 -83 1,196 383 -68
Barrie 889 1,121 26 1,728 396 -77 2,617 1,517 -42
Belleville – Quinte West 192 91 -53 348 48 -86 540 139 -74
Brantford 592 250 -58 636 396 -38 1,228 646 -47
Calgary 5,608 5,093 -9 10,164 9,036 -11 15,772 14,129 -10
Chilliwack 139 89 -36 139 0 -100 199 89 -55
Drummondville 93 85 -9 360 444 23 453 529 17
Edmonton 4,609 3,714 -19 6,492 6,300 -3 11,101 10,014 -10
Fredericton 528 420 -20 84 48 -43 612 468 -24
Greater / Grand Sudbury 7,651 215 -97 0 48 ## 7,651 263 -97
Guelph 86 48 -44 4,068 3,060 -25 4,154 3,108 -25
Halifax 320 816 155 2,052 1,476 -28 2,372 2,292 -3
Hamilton 374 254 -32 864 552 -36 1,238 806 -35
Kamloops 46 46 - 12 96 ## 58 142 145
Kelowna 278 657 136 5,460 2,484 -55 5,738 3,141 -45
Kingston 790 286 -64 240 180 -25 1,030 466 -55
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo 1,079 1,204 12 3,840 696 -82 4,919 1,900 -61
Lethbridge 89 97 9 72 0 -100 161 97 -40
London 443 468 6 204 1,968 ## 647 2,436 277
Moncton 185 124 -33 0 24 ## 185 148 -20
Montréal 1,097 980 -11 10,286 9,075 -12 11,383 10,055 -12
Nanaimo 180 115 -36 1,260 108 -91 1,440 223 -85
Oshawa 413 547 32 336 384 14 749 931 24
Ottawa – Gatineau 3,079 1,849 -40 11,448 13,860 21 14,527 15,709 8
Gatineau 1,842 580 -69 6,288 1,236 -80 8,130 1,816 -78
Ottawa 1,237 1,269 3 5,160 12,624 145 6,397 13,893 117
Peterborough 160 262 64 0 0 - 160 262 64
Québec 541 612 13 5,964 2,868 -52 6,505 3,480 -47
Red Deer 64 59 -8 60 24 -60 124 83 -33
Regina 134 77 -43 2,040 840 -59 2,174 917 -58
Saguenay 685 121 -82 120 132 10 805 253 -69
St. Catharines – Niagara 1,253 907 -28 3,420 480 -86 4,673 1,387 -70
Saint John 275 248 -10 0 0 - 275 248 -10
St. John's 494 497 1 0 24 ## 494 521 5
Saskatoon 373 657 76 2,868 732 -74 3,241 1,389 -57
Sherbrooke 186 165 -11 372 1,416 281 558 1,581 183
Thunder Bay 90 79 -12 0 0 - 90 79 -12
Toronto 7,695 5,516 -28 45,096 33,360 -26 52,791 38,876 -26
Trois-Rivières 310 168 -46 408 492 21 718 660 -8
Vancouver 2,968 2,485 -16 15,360 33,876 121 18,328 36,361 98
Victoria 423 340 -20 3,228 3,564 10 3,651 3,904 7
Windsor 307 375 22 2,364 408 -83 2,671 783 -71
Winnipeg 1,531 1,339 -13 6,084 5,232 -14 7,615 6,571 -14

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

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Date Published: April 19, 2023

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