Housing starts trend upward in September

Ottawa, October 18, 2023

The trend in housing starts was higher in September at 254,006 units, up 3.9% from 244,511 units in August, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada increased 8% in September (270,466 units) compared to August (250,383 units).

The monthly SAAR of total urban (centres 10,000 population and over) housing starts increased 9%, with 250,766 units recorded in September. Multi-unit urban starts increased 10% to 207,689 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 3% to 43,077 units in September.

Total SAAR housing starts were up 98% in Montreal and 20% in Toronto in September, while Vancouver recorded a decrease of 17%, driven by declines in both single-detached (-12%) and multi-unit (-18%).

The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 19,700 units.

Quote:

Both the SAAR and trend in housing starts were higher in September. Multi-unit starts activity has persisted and maintained similar levels to 2022 despite the higher interest rate environment. This has helped offset double-digit declines in single-detached starts in all provinces. In fact, September was the second highest month this year for multi-unit starts. It seems the current higher interest rate environment has not yet had the expected negative impact on multi-unit construction activity so far in 2023 ,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist.

Key facts:

Actual 2023 year-to-date housing starts were 22% and 37% higher than the same period in 2022 in Toronto and Vancouver, respectively.
Nationally, year-over-year starts for September were down 8% in centres of 10,000 population and over, driven primarily by significantly lower single-detached starts.
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 housing starts data on November 16 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 to 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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For information on this release:

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

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

July Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Sept. 2022	Sept. 2023	%	Sept. 2022	Sept. 2023	%	Sept. 2022	Sept. 2023	%
N.-L.	46	61	33	8	27	238	54	88	63
P.E.I.	1	8	##	0	10	##	1	18	##
N.S.	281	191	-32	104	537	416	385	728	89
N.B.	133	91	-32	310	429	38	443	520	17
Atlantic	461	351	-24	422	1,003	138	883	1,354	53
Qc	537	440	-18	3,156	3,947	25	3.693	4,387	19
Ont.	2,068	1,294	-37	9,168	7,266	-21	11,236	8,560	-24
Man.	227	137	-40	138	222	61	365	359	-2
Sask.	104	142	37	119	114	-4	223	256	15
Alta.	1,461	1,185	-19	1,962	2,923	49	3,423	4,108	20
Prairies	1,792	1,464	-18	2,219	3,259	47	4,011	4,723	18
B.C.	747	522	-30	3,527	2,638	-25	4,274	3.160	-26
Canada (10,000+)	5,605	4,071	-27	18,492	18,113	-2	24,097	22,184	-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
	Sept. 2022	Sept. 2023	%	Sept. 2022	Sept. 2023	%	Sept. 2022	Sept. 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	43	24	-44	125	12	-90	168	36	-79
Barrie	152	40	-74	395	123	-69	547	163	-70
Belleville – Quinte West	27	16	-41	17	0	-100	44	16	-64
Brantford	51	6	-88	46	27	-41	97	33	-66
Calgary	590	554	-6	1,089	2,180	100	1,679	2,734	63
Chilliwack	24	27	13	220	10	-95	244	37	-85
Drummondville	30	8	-73	58	42	-28	88	50	-43
Edmonton	678	464	-32	782	620	-21	1,460	1,084	-26
Fredericton	48	28	-42	77	283	268	125	311	149
Greater / Grand Sudbury	10	0	-100	18	5	-72	28	5	-82
Guelph	6	8	33	123	116	-6	129	124	-4
Halifax	80	78	-3	22	508	##	102	586	475
Hamilton	100	36	-64	89	167	88	189	203	7
Kamloops	10	47	370	5	78	##	15	125	##
Kelowna	44	17	-61	208	151	-27	252	168	-33
Kingston	61	38	-38	22	44	100	83	82	-1
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	86	38	-56	213	498	134	299	536	79
Lethbridge	19	24	26	3	8	167	22	32	45
London	61	52	-15	245	127	-48	306	179	-42
Moncton	35	24	-31	214	135	-37	249	159	-36
Montréal	152	99	-35	1,962	2,583	32	2,114	2,682	27
Nanaimo	21	11	-48	132	6	-95	153	17	-89
Oshawa	87	86	-1	221	10	-95	308	96	-69
Ottawa – Gatineau	287	193	-33	1,728	1,306	-24	2,015	1,499	-26
Gatineau	33	48	45	124	219	77	157	267	70
Ottawa	254	145	-43	1,604	1,087	-32	1,858	1,232	-34
Peterborough	50	11	-78	6	0	-100	56	11	-80
Québec	55	68	24	414	568	37	469	636	36
Red Deer	10	13	30	1	10	##	11	23	109
Regina	21	32	52	59	34	-42	80	66	-18
Saguenay	18	18	-	24	15	-38	42	33	-21
St. Catharines – Niagara	95	73	-23	697	308	-56	792	381	-52
Saint John	28	24	-14	0	5	##	28	29	4
St. John's	34	42	24	4	20	400	38	62	63
Saskatoon	77	105	36	45	20	-56	122	125	2
Sherbrooke	30	25	-17	125	84	-33	155	109	-30
Thunder Bay	17	30	76	8	30	275	25	60	140
Toronto	499	406	-19	4,931	4,469	-9	5,430	4,875	-10
Trois-Rivières	15	16	7	62	85	37	77	101	31
Vancouver	419	251	-40	2,293	1,922	-16	2,712	2,173	-20
Victoria	53	41	-23	217	175	-19	270	216	-20
Windsor	68	35	-43	122	11	-91	183	46	-75
Winnipeg	61	108	-43	95	159	67	283	267	-6
Total	4,372	3,216	-26	17,117	16,954	-1	21,489	20,170	-6

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
	Aug. 2023	Sept. 2023	%	Aug. 2023	Sept. 2023	%	Aug. 2023	Sept. 2023	%
N.L.	499	608	22	300	271	-10	799	879	10
P.E.I.	235	95	-60	612	120	-80	847	215	-75
N.S.	1,035	1,183	14	1,396	6,241	347	2,431	7,424	205
N.B.	984	778	-21	5,548	5,203	-6	6,532	5,981	-8
Qc	4,736	4,484	-5	38,337	40.501	6	43,073	44,985	4
Ont.	13,006	14,164	9	66,586	84,637	27	79,592	98,801	24
Man.	1,522	1,532	1	4,596	2,664	-42	6,118	4,196	-31
Sask.	1,167	1,571	35	4,524	1,368	-70	5,691	2,939	-48
Alta.	12,260	13,041	6	27,465	35,275	28	39,725	48,316	22
B.C.	6,255	5,621	-10	39,516	31,409	-21	45,771	37,030	-19
Canada (10,000+)	41,699	43,077	3	188,880	207,689	10	230,579	250,766	9
Canada (All Areas)	55,592	56,880	2	194,790	213,585	10	250,383	270,466	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 — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Aug. 2023	Sept. 2023	%	Aug. 2023	Sept. 2023	%	Aug. 2023	Sept. 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	312	236	-24	84	144	71	397	380	-4
Barrie	317	385	21	912	1,476	62	1,229	1,861	51
Belleville – Quinte West	172	165	-4	48	0	-100	220	165	-25
Brantford	11	75	##	144	324	125	155	399	157
Calgary	5,669	5,953	5	14,220	26,160	84	19,889	32,113	61
Chilliwack	289	282	-2	289	120	-58	1,033	402	-61
Drummondville	346	106	-69	348	504	45	694	610	-12
Edmonton	5,109	5,278	3	11,880	7,440	-37	16,989	12,718	-25
Fredericton	241	298	24	360	3,396	##	601	3,694	##
Greater / Grand Sudbury	64	0	-100	864	60	-93	929	60	-94
Guelph	83	110	33	96	1,392	##	179	1,502	##
Halifax	410	627	53	1,068	6,096	471	1,478	6,723	355
Hamilton	194	348	79	2,484	2,004	-19	2,678	2,352	-12
Kamloops	0	474	##	300	936	212	300	1,410	370
Kelowna	447	255	-43	840	1,812	116	1,287	2,067	61
Kingston	253	289	14	396	528	33	649	817	26
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	838	520	-38	1,392	5,976	329	2,230	6,496	191
Lethbridge	74	269	264	0	96	##	74	365	393
London	406	507	25	1,332	1,524	14	1,738	2,031	17
Moncton	343	205	-40	4,704	1,620	-66	5,047	1,825	-64
Montréal	1,000	988	-1	15,067	30,904	105	16,067	31,892	98
Nanaimo	209	143	-32	72	72	-	281	215	-23
Oshawa	566	848	50	324	120	-63	890	968	9
Ottawa – Gatineau	2,445	1,742	-29	12,348	15,672	27	14,793	17,414	18
Gatineau	222	288	30	3,708	2,628	-29	3,930	2,916	-26
Ottawa	2,223	1,454	-35	8,640	13,044	51	1-,863	14,498	33
Peterborough	116	159	37	12	0	-100	128	159	24
Québec	1,099	781	-29	8,040	6,816	-15	9,139	7,597	-17
Red Deer	56	116	107	156	120	-23	212	236	11
Regina	301	364	21	720	408	-43	1,021	772	-24
Saguenay	228	242	6	552	180	-67	780	422	-46
St. Catharines – Niagara	557	891	60	4,212	3,696	-12	4,769	4,587	-4
Saint John	302	211	-30	432	60	-86	734	271	-63
St. John's	287	415	45	228	240	5	515	655	27
Saskatoon	778	1,162	49	3,084	240	-92	3,862	1,402	-64
Sherbrooke	343	266	-22	1,224	1,008	-18	1,567	1,274	-19
Thunder Bay	103	158	53	1,116	360	-68	1,219	518	-58
Toronto	3,734	4,849	30	44,964	53,628	19	48,698	58,477	20
Trois-Rivières	126	175	39	120	1,020	##	246	1,195	386
Vancouver	3,168	2,797	-12	27,972	23,064	-18	31,140	25,861	-17
Victoria	286	477	67	7,704	2,100	-73	7,990	2,577	-68
Windsor	321	343	7	1,476	132	-91	1,797	475	-74
Winnipeg	1,270	1,245	-2	4,176	1,908	-54	5,446	3,153	-42