SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas declined in August

Ottawa, September 16, 2022

The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada in August was 267,443 units, down 3% from July. The SAAR of total urban starts decreased 3% to 246,771 units in August. Multi-unit urban starts declined 4% to 187,602 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 1% to 59,169 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 20,672 units.

“The six-month trend in housing starts was higher in August compared to July, despite a lower monthly SAAR. Housing starts activity remains elevated in Canada historically and have been well above 200,000 units since 2020,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. “The decline in monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas in August was driven by lower multi-unit starts. A decline in single-detached units in Vancouver was offset by higher multi-unit starts. Toronto posted strong increases across the board, while Montreal recorded a large (33%) decline in multi-unit starts, resulting in the overall decline for Canada.”

The trend in housing starts was 267,309 units in August, up from 264,467 units in July, 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.

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.

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 September data on October 18 at 8:15 AM ET.
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.

Information on this release:

We encourage journalists to contact CMHC Media Relations and arrange to speak to our market analysts regarding the housing starts in their respective Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs).

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

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	August 2021	August 2022	%	August 2021	August 2022	%	August 2021	August 2022	%
N.-L.	57	76	33	3	14	367	60	90	50
P.E.I.	31	16	-48	37	49	32	68	65	-4
N.S.	119	103	-13	49	257	424	168	360	114
N.B.	108	157	45	204	379	86	312	536	72
Atlantic	315	352	12	293	699	139	608	1,051	73
Qc	498	533	7	2,517	2,644	5	3,015	3,177	5
Ont.	2,564	2,409	-6	6,430	6,534	2	8,994	8,943	-1
Man.	254	244	-4	303	269	-11	557	513	-8
Sask.	133	118	-11	34	317	##	167	435	160
Alta.	1,234	1,312	6	1,408	1,495	6	2,642	2,807	6
Prairies	1,621	1,674	3	1,745	2,081	19	3,366	3,755	12
B.C.	642	586	-9	2,911	3,231	11	3,553	3,817	7
Canada (10,000+)	5,640	5,554	-2	13,896	15,189	9	19,536	20,743	6

Data for 2021 and 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	August 2021	August 2022	%	August 2021	August 2022	%	August 2021	August 2022	%
Abbotsford – Mission	23	38	65	26	18	-31	49	56	14
Barrie	89	165	85	248	68	-73	337	233	-31
Belleville	45	28	-38	50	15	-70	95	43	-55
Brantford	94	141	50	196	106	-46	290	247	-15
Calgary	524	510	-3	586	672	15	1,110	1,182	6
Edmonton	521	586	12	755	533	-29	1,276	1,119	-12
Greater Sudbury	8	32	300	2	36	##	10	68	##
Guelph	19	16	-16	12	39	225	31	55	77
Halifax	32	47	47	11	219	##	43	266	##
Hamilton	61	89	46	638	82	-87	699	171	-76
Kelowna	57	66	16	369	556	51	426	622	46
Kingston	43	16	-63	14	104	##	57	120	111
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	86	65	-24	384	349	-9	470	414	-12
Lethbridge	27	24	-11	21	200	##	48	224	367
London	201	127	-37	209	43	-79	410	170	-59
Moncton	28	44	57	179	283	58	207	327	58
Montréal	155	114	-26	1,982	1,260	-36	2,137	1,374	-36
Oshawa	137	143	4	146	233	60	283	376	33
Ottawa – Gatineau	287	290	1	648	1,056	63	935	1,346	44
Gatineau	32	81	153	34	8	-76	66	89	35
Ottawa	255	209	-18	614	1,048	71	869	1,257	45
Peterborough	54	52	-4	158	4	-97	212	56	-74
Québec	35	58	66	135	737	446	170	795	368
Regina	49	22	-55	9	41	356	58	63	9
Saguenay	49	41	-16	19	40	111	68	81	19
St. Catharines – Niagara	134	117	-13	63	115	83	197	232	18
Saint John	29	26	-10	2	0	-100	31	26	-16
St. John's	47	68	45	3	14	367	50	82	64
Saskatoon	75	87	16	22	269	##	97	356	267
Sherbrooke	28	35	25	110	86	-22	138	121	-12
Thunder Bay	10	17	70	0	0	-	10	17	70
Toronto	776	689	-11	3,253	3,846	18	4,029	4,535	13
Trois-Rivières	22	28	27	6	46	##	28	74	164
Vancouver	253	230	-9	1,650	1,729	5	1,903	1,959	3
Victoria	59	56	-5	513	307	-40	572	363	-37
Windsor	58	76	31	76	167	120	134	243	81
Winnipeg	217	207	-5	273	226	-17	490	433	-12
Total	4,332	4,350	0	12,768	13,499	6	17,100	17,849	4

Data for 2021 and 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Provinces — 10,000+)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	July 2022	August 2022	%	July 2022	August 2022	%	July 2022	August 2022	%
N.L.	775	626	-19	48	169	252	823	795	-3
P.E.I.	213	178	-16	192	588	206	405	766	89
N.S.	1,502	1,143	-24	5,728	3,088	-46	7,230	4,231	-41
N.B.	908	1,216	34	3,970	4,522	14	4,878	5,738	18
Qc	7,219	7,835	9	45,453	42,375	-7	52,672	50,210	-5
Ont.	21,627	22,982	6	70,780	73,110	3	92,407	96,092	4
Man.	2,621	2,664	2	3,648	3,228	-12	6,269	5,892	-6
Sask.	1,461	1,360	-7	1,572	3,804	142	3,033	5,164	70
Alta.	14,887	14,515	-2	26,071	17,748	-32	40,958	32,263	-21
B.C.	7,125	6,650	-7	38,365	38,970	2	45,490	45,620	0
Canada (10,000+)	58,338	59,169	1	195,827	187,602	-4	254,165	246,771	-3
Canada (All Areas)	72,685	73,406	1	202,473	194,040	-4	275,158	267,443	-3

Data for 2021 and 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	July 2022	August 2022	%	July 2022	August 2022	%	July 2022	August 2022	%
Abbotsford – Mission	389	446	15	1,560	216	-86	1,949	662	-66
Barrie	1,532	1,252	-18	1,692	816	-52	3,224	2,068	-36
Belleville	195	268	37	60	180	200	255	448	76
Brantford	821	642	-22	1,320	1,272	-4	2,141	1,914	-11
Calgary	6,154	5,767	-6	16,272	8,064	-50	22,426	13,831	-38
Edmonton	6,836	6,688	-2	9,024	6,396	-29	15,860	13,084	-18
Greater Sudbury	56	184	229	264	432	64	320	616	93
Guelph	135	152	13	204	468	129	339	620	83
Halifax	832	565	-32	5,004	2,628	-47	5,836	3,193	-45
Hamilton	1,071	852	-20	1,236	984	-20	2,307	1,836	-20
Kelowna	652	993	52	480	6,672	##	1,132	7,665	##
Kingston	438	188	-57	264	1,248	373	702	1,436	105
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	1,091	665	-39	3,660	4,188	14	4,751	4,853	2
Lethbridge	269	254	-6	108	2,400	##	377	2,654	##
London	895	1,435	60	2,448	516	-79	3,343	1,951	-42
Moncton	350	476	36	2,220	3,396	53	2,570	3,872	51
Montréal	1,703	1,805	6	23,160	15,404	-33	24,863	17,209	-31
Oshawa	1,177	1,413	20	2,808	2,796	0	3,985	4,209	6
Ottawa – Gatineau	3,024	3,225	7	21,888	12,672	-42	24,912	15,897	-36
Gatineau	718	949	32	3,312	96	-97	4,030	1,045	-74
Ottawa	2,306	2,276	-1	18,576	12,576	-32	20,882	14,852	-29
Peterborough	312	359	15	0	48	##	312	407	30
Québec	964	935	-3	6,252	8,844	41	7,216	9,779	36
Regina	443	233	-47	528	492	-7	971	725	-25
Saguenay	347	305	-12	144	480	233	491	785	60
St. Catharines – Niagara	1,159	1,122	-3	312	1,380	342	1,471	2,502	70
Saint John	243	260	7	60	0	-100	303	260	-14
St. John's	745	613	-18	36	168	367	781	781	-
Saskatoon	947	1,046	10	924	3,228	249	1,871	4,274	128
Sherbrooke	460	584	27	840	1,032	23	1,300	1,616	24
Thunder Bay	153	133	-13	228	0	-100	381	133	-65
Toronto	4,801	5,737	19	34,584	46,152	33	39,385	51,889	32
Trois-Rivières	209	387	85	792	552	-30	1,001	939	-6
Vancouver	2,881	2,517	-13	20,400	20,748	2	23,281	23,265	0
Victoria	995	854	-14	10,332	3,684	-64	11,327	4,538	-60
Windsor	697	756	8	1,080	2,004	86	1,777	2,760	55
Winnipeg	2,224	2,254	1	2,916	2,712	-7	5,140	4,966	-3