Housing Supply Report

PDF - Report

The Housing Supply Report provides insights on new housing supply in Canada’s major cities and urban areas. The insights contained in this report will help to better understand why some markets are more affordable than others. The primary data source for this work is our Starts and Completions Survey, which collects data on monthly residential construction activity.

You’ll get:

An analysis of new housing construction trends within and across Canada’s 6 largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). More specifically:
- relative growth in the housing supply per capita
- intensity of development (units per structure) and building height
- diversity of new housing both per dwelling type and intended market
- spatial distribution of new housing supply
New indicators such as units per structure and building height.
Insights on different ways new housing supply is delivered across Canada.

Author:: CMHC
Document Type:: PDF
Date Published:: May 3, 2022

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Highlights from the Housing Supply Report

Housing starts have struggled to keep up with population growth in some CMAs, especially Toronto, making affordability a significant challenge.
Apartments (includes units for rent or for ownership) dominate construction in large urban centres, such as Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. In these CMAs, the various constraints (land, bylaws, etc.) may be more significant. In Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa, meanwhile, starts of houses (includes single, semi-detached, and row) remain strong.
The proportion of rental housing starts increased in several CMAs, including Montréal and Vancouver. However, rental housing starts remains low in Toronto.
Toronto leads in the construction of high-rise apartment buildings with several units (includes units for rent or for ownership). For many other CMAs, a multitude of buildings with fewer units and floors dominate the urban landscape.
These different types of buildings can have different construction times and costs. Some CMAs may therefore be able to deliver new units more quickly and at a different cost, thereby influencing market affordability.

The Housing Supply Report is released biannually. Future editions will be enhanced with even more indicators and analysis.