Housing starts for April 2025

Ottawa, May 15, 2025

The six-month trend in housing starts increased 2.4% in April to 240,905 units, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada increased 30% in April (278,606 units) compared to March (214,205 units).

Actual housing starts were up 17% year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater, with 21,720 units recorded in April, compared to 18,539 in April 2024. This marks the highest actual housing starts for the month of April on record, and pushed the year-to-date total to 67,022, down 2% from the same period in 2024.

“The increased starts activity in April was driven by increases across all housing types in Québec and the Prairie provinces, while starts in Ontario and British Columbia declined on a year-over-year basis again this month. The current economic uncertainty will have consequences for the supply and demand of new housing. CMHC will be monitoring these effects closely over the coming months,” said Kevin Hughes, CMHC’s Deputy Chief Economist.

Key facts:

The monthly SAAR for Canada’s centres with a population of 10,000 or greater increased 28% in April (259,788 units) compared to March (202,668 units).
The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 18,818 units.
Among Canada’s big three cities, Montreal posted a 64% year-over-year increase in actual housing starts compared to April 2024, primarily driven by more multi-unit starts. Vancouver recorded a 6% increase in starts this month, also driven by higher multi-unit starts. Conversely, a decrease in multi-unit starts drove the 25% year-over-year decrease in Toronto’s housing starts compared to last April.
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 May housing starts data on June 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.
Read about our definitions and methodology to better understand the foundations of the Starts and Completions and Market Absorption surveys.

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.

CMHC plays a critical role as a national convenor to promote stability and sustainability in Canada’s housing finance system. Our mortgage insurance products support access to home ownership and the creation and maintenance of rental supply. We actively support the Government of Canada in delivering on its commitment to make housing more affordable. Our research and data help inform housing policy. By facilitating cooperation between all levels of government, private and non-profit sectors, we contribute to advancing housing affordability, equity, and climate compatibility.

Information on this release:

To request an interview with a CMHC economist, contact:
Media Relations, CMHC
media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

April housing starts in Canada — all areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Province)
January – April 2024 – 2025
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%
N.-L.	106	127	20	53	106	100	159	233	47
P.E.I.	32	67	109	314	385	23	346	452	31
N.S.	398	324	-19	2,139	2,172	2	2,537	2,496	-2
N.B.	116	117	1	728	728	-	844	845	0
Atlantic	652	635	-3	3,234	3,391	5	3,886	4,026	4
Que.	1,050	1,161	11	8,336	13,389	61	9,386	14,550	55
Ont.	3,193	2,407	-25	20,241	13,708	-32	23,434	16,115	-31
Man.	479	690	44	1,147	1,129	-2	1,626	1,819	12
Sask.	257	454	77	736	1,470	100	993	1,924	94
Alta.	4,035	4,873	21	9,535	11,876	25	13,570	16,749	23
Prairies	4,771	6,017	26	11,418	14,475	27	16,189	20,492	27
B.C.	1,234	1,097	-11	13,978	10,742	-23	15,212	11,839	-22
Canada	10,900	11,317	4	57,207	55,705	-3	68,107	67,022	-2

1 Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023, 2024 and 2025 based on 2021 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Metropolitan Areas)
January – April 2024 – 2025
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%
Abbotsford – Mission	55	40	-27	317	857	170	372	897	141
Barrie	137	21	-85	29	98	238	166	119	-28
Belleville – Quinte West	50	32	-36	79	165	109	129	197	53
Brantford	61	88	44	13	580	##	74	668	##
Calgary	2,007	2,328	16	5,209	7,045	35	7,216	9,373	30
Chilliwack	45	38	-16	143	237	66	188	275	46
Drummondville	42	72	71	115	254	121	157	326	108
Edmonton	1,644	2,092	27	3,499	3,864	10	5,143	5,956	16
Fredericton	31	25	-19	7	125	##	38	150	295
Greater/Grand Sudbury	32	8	-75	2	5	150	34	13	-62
Guelph	10	7	-30	134	7	-95	144	14	-90
Halifax	216	210	-3	1,989	2,067	4	2,205	2,277	3
Hamilton	107	55	-49	453	625	38	560	680	21
Kamloops	33	41	24	17	106	##	50	147	194
Kelowna	86	72	-16	966	668	-31	1,052	740	-30
Kingston	55	47	-15	39	216	454	94	263	180
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	130	96	-26	859	1,018	19	989	1,114	13
Lethbridge	50	82	64	149	142	-5	199	224	13
London	129	142	10	1,229	225	-82	1,358	367	-73
Moncton	36	30	-17	430	547	27	466	577	24
Montréal	254	347	37	3,755	6,939	85	4,009	7,286	82
Nanaimo	51	29	-43	554	105	-81	605	134	-78
Oshawa	103	64	-38	540	102	-81	643	166	-74
Ottawa – Gatineau	406	522	29	1,736	3,671	111	2,142	4,193	96
Gatineau	85	67	-21	470	626	33	555	693	25
Ottawa	321	455	42	1,266	3,045	141	1,587	3,500	121
Peterborough	29	18	-38	14	3	-79	43	21	-51
Québec	149	193	30	1,969	1,972	0	2,118	2,165	2
Red Deer	20	40	100	237	17	-93	257	57	-78
Regina	53	99	87	450	693	54	503	792	57
Saguenay	62	58	-6	77	151	96	139	209	50
St. Catharines – Niagara	211	100	-53	298	390	31	509	490	-4
Saint John	25	34	36	218	27	-88	243	61	-75
St. John's	89	121	36	50	105	110	139	226	63
Saskatoon	183	326	78	282	719	155	465	1,045	125
Sherbrooke	74	70	-5	283	380	34	357	450	26
Thunder Bay	3	5	67	30	20	-33	33	25	-24
Toronto	1,175	795	-32	14,027	6,567	-53	15,202	7,362	-52
Trois-Rivières	25	50	100	277	226	-18	302	276	-9
Vancouver	575	574	0	9,965	7,345	-26	10,540	7,919	-25
Victoria	93	69	-26	1,329	934	-30	1,422	1,003	-29
Windsor	74	75	1	511	108	-79	585	183	-69
Winnipeg	414	620	50	1,090	982	-10	1,504	1,602	7
Total	9,024	9,735	8	53,370	50,307	-6	62,394	60,042	-4

1 Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023, 2024 and 2025 based on 2021 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	April 2024	April 2025	%	April 2024	April 2025	%	April 2024	April 2025	%
N.-L.	41	55	34	14	55	293	55	110	100
P.E.I.	10	25	150	8	138	##	18	163	##
N.S.	126	103	-18	442	889	101	568	992	75
N.B.	47	38	-19	192	134	-30	239	172	-28
Atlantic	224	221	-1	656	1,216	85	880	1,437	63
Qc	319	459	44	2,310	3,954	71	2,629	4,413	68
Ont.	1,011	821	-19	4,763	4,356	-9	5,774	5,177	-10
Man.	127	231	82	502	226	-55	629	457	-27
Sask.	70	149	113	264	480	82	334	629	88
Alta.	1,231	1,594	29	2,595	3,685	42	3,826	5,279	38
Prairies	1,428	1,974	38	3,361	4,391	31	4,789	6,365	33
B.C.	399	338	-15	4,068	3,990	-2	4,467	4,328	-3
Canada (10,000+)	3,381	3,813	13	15,158	17,907	18	18,539	21,720	17

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023, 2024 and 2025 based on 2021 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
	April 2024	April 2025	%	April 2024	April 2025	%	April 2024	April 2025	%
Abbotsford – Mission	26	13	-50	39	202	418	65	215	231
Barrie	54	5	-91	9	34	278	63	39	-38
Belleville – Quinte West	14	11	-21	8	0	-100	22	11	-50
Brantford	17	39	129	5	269	##	22	308	##
Calgary	528	821	55	1,303	2,281	75	1,831	3,102	69
Chilliwack	15	11	-27	9	121	##	24	132	450
Drummondville	15	26	73	45	57	27	60	83	38
Edmonton	598	604	1	1,058	1,257	19	1,656	1,861	12
Fredericton	9	5	-44	0	0	-	9	5	-44
Greater / Grand Sudbury	4	3	-25	0	0	-	4	3	-25
Guelph	2	3	50	32	6	-81	34	9	-74
Halifax	75	56	-25	418	860	106	493	916	86
Hamilton	10	14	40	41	179	337	51	193	278
Kamloops	9	8	-11	5	4	-20	14	12	-14
Kelowna	31	22	-29	170	177	4	201	199	-1
Kingston	20	18	-10	12	33	175	32	51	59
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	43	26	-40	469	229	-51	512	255	-50
Lethbridge	10	20	100	51	20	-61	61	40	-34
London	40	41	2	375	30	-92	415	71	-83
Moncton	26	15	-42	153	126	-18	179	141	-21
Montréal	70	134	91	1,124	1,825	62	1,194	1,959	64
Nanaimo	13	9	-31	372	18	-95	385	27	-93
Oshawa	45	43	-4	90	35	-61	135	78	-42
Ottawa – Gatineau	138	170	23	309	1,414	358	447	1,584	254
Gatineau	24	24	-	32	123	284	56	147	163
Ottawa	114	146	28	277	1,291	366	391	1,437	268
Peterborough	8	1	-88	14	0	-100	22	1	-95
Québec	66	67	2	631	621	-2	697	688	-1
Red Deer	8	11	38	63	0	-100	71	11	-85
Regina	19	19	-	204	262	28	223	281	26
Saguenay	7	29	314	8	13	63	15	42	180
St. Catharines – Niagara	50	23	-54	93	56	-40	143	79	-45
Saint John	1	11	##	10	1	-90	11	12	9
St. John's	36	50	39	11	54	391	47	104	121
Saskatoon	45	123	173	60	215	258	105	338	222
Sherbrooke	21	33	57	64	162	153	85	195	129
Thunder Bay	1	2	100	0	0	-	1	2	100
Toronto	305	249	-18	2,749	2,041	-26	3,054	2,290	-25
Trois-Rivières	11	20	82	28	67	139	39	87	123
Vancouver	195	171	-12	2,718	2,914	7	2,913	3,085	6
Victoria	21	20	-5	485	371	-24	506	391	-23
Windsor	31	25	-19	289	35	-88	320	60	-81
Winnipeg	101	214	112	490	199	-59	591	413	-30
Total	2,738	3,185	16	14,014	16,188	16	16,752	19,373	16

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Provinces — 10,000+)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	March 2025	April 2025	%	March 2025	April 2025	%	March 2025	April 2025	%
N.L.	728	818	12	249	1,033	315	977	1,851	89
P.E.I.	467	377	-19	84	1,656	##	551	2,033	269
N.S.	1,684	1,429	-15	4,598	10,796	135	6,282	12,225	95
N.B.	1,392	800	-43	3,441	1,593	-54	4,833	2,393	-50
Qc	4,665	4,712	1	50,181	46,472	-7	54,846	51,184	-7
Ont.	7,542	10,649	41	30,827	53,487	74	38,369	64,136	67
Man.	2,334	2,815	21	5,772	2,712	-53	8,106	5,527	-32
Sask.	2,085	1,669	-20	5,772	5,760	0	7,857	7,429	-5
Alta.	18,140	18,440	2	33,588	43,489	29	51,728	61,929	20
B.C.	3,782	3,582	-5	25,337	47,499	87	29,119	51,081	75
Canada (10,000+)	42,819	45,291	6	159,849	214,497	34	202,668	259,788	28
Canada (All Areas)	49,596	57,026	15	164,609	221,582	35	214,205	278,606	30

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	March 2025	April 2025	%	March 2025	April 2025	%	March 2025	April 2025	%
Abbotsford – Mission	170	120	-29	2,676	2,424	-9	2,846	2,544	-11
Barrie	21	46	119	156	408	162	177	454	156
Belleville – Quinte West	181	164	-9	0	0	-	181	164	-9
Brantford	528	582	10	828	3,228	290	1,356	3,810	181
Calgary	7,054	8,955	27	21,360	27,372	28	28,414	36,327	28
Chilliwack	118	105	-11	118	1,452	##	958	1,557	63
Drummondville	278	232	-17	1,344	684	-49	1,622	916	-44
Edmonton	8,808	7,305	-17	9,432	15,084	60	18,240	22,389	23
Fredericton	58	223	284	1,476	0	-100	1,534	223	-85
Greater / Grand Sudbury	85	56	-34	60	0	-100	145	56	-61
Guelph	45	49	9	0	72	##	45	121	169
Halifax	1,069	705	-34	4,152	10,320	149	5,221	11,025	111
Hamilton	168	357	113	228	2,148	##	396	2,505	##
Kamloops	105	76	-28	120	48	-60	225	124	-45
Kelowna	288	228	-21	552	2,124	285	840	2,352	180
Kingston	262	235	-10	0	396	##	262	631	141
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	404	353	-13	3,948	2,748	-30	4,352	3,101	-29
Lethbridge	567	297	-48	228	240	5	795	537	-32
London	669	660	-1	1,284	360	-72	1,953	1,020	-48
Moncton	415	232	-44	1,788	1,512	-15	2,203	1,744	-21
Montréal	1,107	1,329	20	22,537	21,499	-5	23,644	22,828	-3
Nanaimo	110	88	-20	96	216	125	206	304	48
Oshawa	84	399	375	756	420	-44	840	819	-3
Ottawa – Gatineau	1,924	2,230	16	7,440	16,968	128	9,364	19,198	105
Gatineau	274	319	16	1,224	1,476	21	1,498	1,795	20
Ottawa	1,650	1,911	16	6,216	15,492	149	7,866	17,403	121
Peterborough	25	15	-40	24	0	-100	49	15	-69
Québec	779	645	-17	4,440	7,452	68	5,219	8,097	55
Red Deer	112	117	4	36	0	-100	148	117	-21
Regina	579	284	-51	396	3,144	##	975	3,428	252
Saguenay	366	272	-26	360	156	-57	726	428	-41
St. Catharines – Niagara	485	281	-42	744	672	-10	1,229	953	-22
Saint John	635	142	-78	0	12	##	635	154	-76
St. John's	853	811	-5	120	648	440	973	1,459	50
Saskatoon	1,351	1,223	-9	5,088	2,580	-49	6,439	3,803	-41
Sherbrooke	298	375	26	1,152	1,944	69	1,450	2,319	60
Thunder Bay	89	150	69	72	0	-100	161	150	-7
Toronto	2,129	3,361	58	12,780	24,492	92	14,909	27,853	87
Trois-Rivières	493	175	-65	1,152	804	-30	1,645	979	-40
Vancouver	1,992	1,827	-8	15,456	34,968	126	17,448	36,795	111
Victoria	269	217	-19	4,128	4,452	8	4,397	4,669	6
Windsor	353	340	-4	108	420	289	461	760	65
Winnipeg	2,017	2,480	23	5,460	2,388	-56	7,477	4,868	-35