Housing starts increased in February

Ottawa, March 15, 2023

The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada increased 13% in February (243,959 units) compared to January (216,514 units) according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The monthly SAAR of total urban (centres 10,000 population and over) starts increased 16%, with 222,663 units recorded in February. Multi-unit urban starts increased 18% to 173,745 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 8% to 48,918 units.

The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 21,296 units.

The trend in housing starts was 255,735 units in February, down 2% from 259,830 units in January. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

“After hitting its lowest level since September 2020, the monthly SAAR of housing starts rebounded in February, while the six-month trend declined slightly. Among Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, only Toronto recorded an increase in total SAAR housing starts in February, up 55%. Montreal declined 31% and Vancouver declined 43%. February’s housing starts provided much needed new housing supply nationally, but in order to improve affordability, we need to find innovative ways to deliver more supply and to keep building at a higher pace,” 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 March housing starts data on April 19 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.

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Additional information:

For 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

February Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Feb. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Feb. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Feb. 2022	Feb. 2023	%
N.-L.	21	14	-33	11	2	-82	32	16	-50
P.E.I.	5	8	60	10	16	60	15	24	60
N.S.	67	55	-18	120	240	100	187	295	58
N.B.	17	20	18	2	12	##	19	32	68
Atlantic	110	97	-12	143	270	89	253	367	45
Qc	257	206	-20	2,312	2,218	-4	2,569	2,424	-6
Ont.	1,333	1,176	-12	5,703	5,946	4	7,036	7,122	1
Man.	155	123	-21	510	524	3	665	647	-3
Sask.	102	36	-65	152	412	171	254	448	76
Alta.	918	813	-11	1,289	1,448	12	2,207	2,261	2
Prairies	1,175	972	-17	1,951	2,384	22	3,126	3,356	7
B.C.	532	370	-30	1,937	2,354	22	2,469	2,724	10
Canada (10,000+)	3,407	2,821	-17	12,046	13,172	9	15,453	15,993	3

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
	Feb. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Feb. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Feb. 2022	Feb. 2023	%
Abbotsford-Mission	30	18	-40	84	77	-8	114	95	-17
Barrie	41	42	2	21	144	##	62	186	200
Belleville - Quinte West	18	7	-61	0	29	##	18	36	100
Brantford	24	30	25	6	53	##	30	83	177
Calgary	398	391	-2	761	847	11	1,159	1,238	7
Chilliwack	28	10	-64	21	5	-76	49	15	-69
Drummondville	12	3	-75	21	30	43	33	33	-
Edmonton	422	330	-22	394	541	37	816	871	7
Fredericton	7	8	14	0	7	##	7	15	114
Greater/Grand Sudbury	0	6	##	0	0	-	0	6	##
Guelph	10	5	-50	4	339	##	14	344	##
Halifax	42	16	-62	90	171	90	132	187	42
Hamilton	51	23	-55	148	72	-51	199	95	-52
Kamloops	12	2	-83	2	1	-50	14	3	-79
Kelowna	36	15	-58	27	455	##	63	470	##
Kingston	6	29	383	9	20	122	15	49	227
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	96	93	-3	87	320	268	183	413	126
Lethbridge	21	5	-76	99	6	-94	120	11	-91
London	115	31	-73	49	17	-65	164	48	-71
Moncton	3	3	-	2	0	-100	5	3	-40
Montréal	102	49	-52	1,053	839	-20	1,155	888	-23
Nanaimo	21	11	-48	163	105	-36	184	116	-37
Oshawa	42	23	-45	31	28	-10	73	51	-30
Ottawa-Gatineau	134	123	-8	743	954	28	877	1,077	23
Gatineau	5	60	##	381	524	38	386	584	51
Ottawa	129	63	-51	362	430	19	491	493	0
Peterborough	10	4	-60	0	0	-	10	4	-60
Québec	53	27	-49	341	497	46	394	524	33
Red Deer	10	5	-50	0	5	##	10	10	-
Regina	23	9	-61	13	170	##	36	179	397
Saguenay	13	10	-23	18	10	-44	31	20	-35
St. Catharines-Niagara	46	74	61	96	285	197	142	359	153
Saint John	6	6	-	0	0	-	6	6	-
St. John's	20	13	-35	11	0	-100	31	13	-58
Saskatoon	73	23	-68	138	239	73	211	262	24
Sherbrooke	33	5	-85	100	31	-69	133	36	-73
Thunder Bay	0	0	-	4	0	-100	4	0	-100
Toronto	418	468	12	4,697	3,758	-20	5,115	4,226	-17
Trois-Rivières	1	4	300	75	34	-55	76	38	-50
Vancouver	247	211	-15	1,118	1,280	14	1,365	1,491	9
Victoria	46	31	-33	367	269	-27	413	300	-27
Windsor	51	18	-65	10	197	##	61	215	252
Winnipeg	130	103	-21	415	507	22	545	610	12
Total	2,851	2,284	-20	11,218	12,342	10	14,069	14,626	4

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
	Jan. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Feb. 2023	%
N.L.	427	601	41	61	26	-57	488	627	28
P.E.I.	452	421	-7	120	192	60	572	613	7
N.S.	983	1,001	2	1,980	2,898	46	2,963	3,899	32
N.B.	987	1,091	11	403	158	-61	1,390	1,249	-10
Qc	5,959	5,987	0	29,293	34,376	17	35,252	40,363	14
Ont.	18,501	19,514	5	53,519	78,895	47	72,020	98,409	37
Man.	2,428	1,888	-22	2,028	6,288	210	4,456	8,176	83
Sask.	827	595	-28	912	4,944	442	1,739	5,539	219
Alta.	8,925	12,512	40	18,230	17,601	-3	27,155	30,113	11
B.C.	5,804	5,308	-9	40,651	28,367	-30	46,455	33,675	-28
Canada (10,000+)	45,293	48,918	8	147,197	173,745	18	192,490	222,663	16
Canada (All Areas)	63,092	64,281	2	153,422	179,677	17	216,514	243,959	13

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
	Jan. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Feb. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Feb. 2023	%
Abbotsford-Mission	109	275	152	72	924	##	181	1,199	##
Barrie	765	815	7	732	1,728	136	1,497	2,543	70
Belleville - Quinte West	143	219	53	0	348	##	143	567	297
Brantford	1,217	620	-49	0	636	##	1,217	1,256	3
Calgary	4,632	5,663	22	11,892	10,164	-15	16,524	15,827	-4
Chilliwack	239	143	-40	239	60	-75	347	203	-41
Drummondville	225	90	-60	348	360	3	573	450	-21
Edmonton	2,712	4,567	68	4,788	6,492	36	7,500	11,059	47
Fredericton	436	532	22	24	84	250	460	616	34
Greater/Grand Sudbury	127	7,439	##	0	0	-	127	7,439	##
Guelph	104	93	-11	96	4,068	##	200	4,161	##
Halifax	260	295	13	1,044	2,052	97	1,304	2,347	80
Hamilton	374	395	6	1,656	864	-48	2,030	1,259	-38
Kamloops	122	40	-67	96	12	-88	218	52	-76
Kelowna	474	258	-46	4,188	5,460	30	4,662	5,718	23
Kingston	276	772	180	456	240	-47	732	1,012	38
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	782	1,056	35	4,020	3,840	-4	4,802	4,896	2
Lethbridge	185	87	-53	36	72	100	221	159	-28
London	631	435	-31	3,420	204	-94	4,051	639	-84
Moncton	243	196	-19	180	0	-100	423	196	-54
Montréal	1,731	1,116	-36	14,765	10,323	-30	16,496	11,439	-31
Nanaimo	120	193	61	84	1,260	##	204	1,453	##
Oshawa	456	379	-17	360	336	-7	816	715	-12
Ottawa-Gatineau	974	2,835	191	756	11,448	##	1,730	14,283	##
Gatineau	0	1,650	##	360	6,288	##	360	7,938	##
Ottawa	974	1,185	22	396	5,160	##	1,370	6,345	363
Peterborough	118	163	38	0	0	-	118	163	38
Québec	795	539	-32	1,332	5,964	348	2,127	6,503	206
Red Deer	80	66	-18	168	60	-64	248	126	-49
Regina	91	136	49	372	2,040	448	463	2,176	370
Saguenay	360	586	63	156	120	-23	516	706	37
St. Catharines-Niagara	2,334	1,301	-44	1,548	3,420	121	3,882	4,721	22
Saint John	242	274	13	0	0	-	242	274	13
St. John's	298	464	56	36	0	-100	334	464	39
Saskatoon	716	382	-47	504	2,868	469	1,220	3,250	166
Sherbrooke	303	192	-37	672	372	-45	975	564	-42
Thunder Bay	170	103	-39	72	0	-100	242	103	-57
Toronto	6,729	8,321	24	27,660	45,096	63	34,389	53,417	55
Trois-Rivières	361	321	-11	1,056	408	-61	1,417	729	-49
Vancouver	3,110	3,009	-3	29,244	15,360	-47	32,354	18,369	-43
Victoria	373	428	15	5,280	3,228	-39	5,653	3,656	-35
Windsor	504	307	-39	2,652	2,364	-11	3,156	2,671	-15
Winnipeg	2,012	1,543	-23	1,656	6,084	267	3,668	7,627	108