Housing starts for February 2025

Ottawa, March 17, 2025

The six-month trend in housing starts increased 1.1% in February to 239,382 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 decreased 4% in February (229,030 units) compared to January (239,322 units).

Actual housing starts were down 17% year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater, with 14,459 units recorded in February, compared to 17,454 in February 2024.

Key facts:

The monthly SAAR for Canada’s centres with a population of 10,000 or greater decreased 5% in February (209,784 units) compared to January (220,074 units).
The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 19,246 units.
Among Canada’s big 3 cities, Montreal posted a 6% year-over-year increase in actual housing starts in February, with increases in both multi-unit and single-detached starts. Vancouver recorded a 48% decrease and starts in Toronto fell 68% from February 2024, both driven lower by decreases in multi-unit and 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 March housing starts data on April 15 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

February housing starts in Canada — all areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Province)
January – February 2024 – 2025
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%
N.-L.	57	54	-5	38	42	11	95	96	1
P.E.I.	18	25	39	77	234	204	95	259	173
N.S.	184	181	-2	1,215	993	-18	1,399	1,174	-16
N.B.	52	47	-10	501	319	-36	553	366	-34
Atlantic	311	307	-1	1,831	1,588	-13	2,142	1,895	-12
Que.	437	445	2	4,066	5,785	42	4,503	6,230	38
Ont.	1,265	961	-24	10,871	7,215	-34	12,136	8,176	-33
Man.	236	302	28	399	396	-1	635	698	10
Sask.	112	153	37	309	485	57	421	638	52
Alta.	1,804	2,116	17	4,818	5,157	7	6,622	7,273	10
Prairies	2,152	2,571	19	5,526	6,038	9	7,678	8,609	12
B.C.	569	513	-10	5,309	4,966	-6	5,878	5,479	-7
Canada	4,734	4,797	1	27,603	25,592	-7	32,337	30,389	-6

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 – February 2024 – 2025
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%	2024	2025	%
Abbotsford – Mission	21	14	-33	134	432	222	155	446	188
Barrie	40	15	-63	16	51	219	56	66	18
Belleville – Quinte West	23	16	-30	70	165	136	93	181	95
Brantford	24	14	-42	8	242	##	32	256	##
Calgary	947	1,052	11	2,678	2,984	11	3,625	4,036	11
Chilliwack	23	18	-22	9	46	411	32	64	100
Drummondville	7	16	129	38	85	124	45	101	124
Edmonton	676	868	28	1,649	1,821	10	2,325	2,689	16
Fredericton	16	19	19	7	2	-71	23	21	-9
Grand Sudbury	28	2	-93	2	0	-100	30	2	-93
Guelph	4	1	-75	96	1	-99	100	2	-98
Halifax	91	91	-	1,126	861	-24	1,217	952	-22
Hamilton	62	27	-56	395	427	8	457	454	-1
Kamloops	11	26	136	10	92	##	21	118	462
Kelowna	39	28	-28	417	445	7	456	473	4
Kingston	29	19	-34	18	183	##	47	202	330
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	34	29	-15	315	460	46	349	489	40
Lethbridge	31	41	32	96	103	7	127	144	13
London	47	55	17	347	88	-75	394	143	-64
Moncton	8	11	38	263	272	3	271	283	4
Montréal	112	153	37	1,893	3,244	71	2,005	3,397	69
Nanaimo	36	8	-78	181	79	-56	217	87	-60
Oshawa	34	15	-56	372	4	-99	406	19	-95
Ottawa – Gatineau	155	246	59	833	1,637	97	988	1,883	91
Gatineau	46	30	-35	289	401	39	335	431	29
Ottawa	109	216	98	544	1,236	127	653	1,452	122
Peterborough	8	15	88	0	1	##	8	16	100
Québec	54	69	28	818	981	20	872	1,050	20
Red Deer	6	23	283	172	14	-92	178	37	-79
Regina	15	39	160	172	398	131	187	437	134
Saguenay	32	16	-50	40	108	170	72	124	72
St. Catharines – Niagara	118	44	-63	125	272	118	243	316	30
Saint John	18	8	-56	208	26	-88	226	34	-85
St. John's	49	50	2	38	41	8	87	91	5
Saskatoon	87	108	24	134	80	-40	221	188	-15
Sherbrooke	35	20	-43	85	122	44	120	142	18
Thunder Bay	1	3	200	6	14	133	7	17	143
Toronto	518	386	-25	8,136	3,461	-57	8,654	3,847	-56
Trois-Rivières	11	14	27	218	63	-71	229	77	-66
Vancouver	263	268	2	3,908	3,143	-20	4,171	3,411	-18
Victoria	42	27	-36	415	219	-47	457	246	-46
Windsor	21	31	48	200	64	-68	221	95	-57
Winnipeg	210	270	29	366	328	-10	576	598	4
Total	3,986	4,175	5	26,014	23,059	-11	30,000	27,234	-9

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
	Feb. 2024	Feb. 2025	%	Feb. 2024	Feb. 2025	%	Feb. 2024	Feb. 2025	%
N.-L.	19	21	11	2	19	##	21	40	90
P.E.I.	1	14	##	10	46	360	11	60	445
N.S.	80	67	-16	864	477	-45	944	544	-42
N.B.	24	17	-29	286	271	-5	310	288	-7
Atlantic	124	119	-4	1,162	813	-30	1,286	932	-28
Qc	200	189	-6	1,719	2,036	18	1,919	2,225	16
Ont.	604	466	-23	5,798	3,640	-37	6,402	4,106	-36
Man.	126	157	25	208	145	-30	334	302	-10
Sask.	52	94	81	152	346	128	204	440	116
Alta.	989	1,137	15	2,704	2,937	9	3,693	4,074	10
Prairies	1,167	1,388	19	3,064	3,428	12	4,231	4,816	14
B.C.	309	249	-19	3,307	2,131	-36	3,616	2,380	-34
Canada (10,000+)	2,404	2,411	0	15,050	12,048	-20	17,454	14,459	-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
	Feb. 2024	Feb. 2025	%	Feb. 2024	Feb. 2025	%	Feb. 2024	Feb. 2025	%
Abbotsford – Mission	5	4	-20	56	152	171	61	156	156
Barrie	20	12	-40	8	33	313	28	45	61
Belleville – Quinte West	16	10	-38	70	165	136	86	175	103
Brantford	11	3	-73	8	0	-100	19	3	-84
Calgary	460	500	9	1,214	1,907	57	1,674	2,407	44
Chilliwack	15	8	-47	8	42	425	23	50	117
Drummondville	3	6	100	37	67	81	40	73	83
Edmonton	434	536	24	1,208	942	-22	1,642	1,478	-10
Fredericton	8	9	13	0	0	-	8	9	13
Greater / Grand Sudbury	28	0	###	0	0	-	28	0	###
Guelph	2	0	###	96	0	-100	98	0	###
Halifax	40	31	-23	837	410	-51	877	441	-50
Hamilton	15	14	-7	191	410	115	206	424	106
Kamloops	10	15	50	9	84	##	19	99	421
Kelowna	28	11	-61	310	102	-67	338	113	-67
Kingston	20	15	-25	16	17	6	36	32	-11
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	20	12	-40	148	281	90	168	293	74
Lethbridge	16	19	19	8	0	-100	24	19	-21
London	20	23	15	192	66	-66	212	89	-58
Moncton	3	3	-	168	264	57	171	267	56
Montréal	49	52	6	759	805	6	808	857	6
Nanaimo	9	4	-56	4	79	##	13	83	##
Oshawa	17	9	-47	60	4	-93	77	13	-83
Ottawa – Gatineau	62	143	131	525	952	81	587	1,095	87
Gatineau	35	18	-49	108	91	-16	143	109	-24
Ottawa	27	125	363	417	861	106	444	986	122
Peterborough	3	9	200	0	1	##	3	10	233
Québec	29	31	7	280	493	76	309	524	70
Red Deer	1	7	##	166	2	-99	167	9	-95
Regina	10	32	220	62	302	387	72	334	364
Saguenay	8	7	-13	22	60	173	30	67	123
St. Catharines – Niagara	61	16	-74	87	189	117	148	205	39
Saint John	9	1	-89	118	0	-100	127	1	-99
St. John's	15	20	33	2	19	##	17	39	129
Saskatoon	36	59	64	88	39	-56	124	98	-21
Sherbrooke	18	12	-33	18	69	283	36	81	125
Thunder Bay	1	0	###	0	0	-	1	0	###
Toronto	237	167	-30	4,412	1,312	-70	4,649	1,479	-68
Trois-Rivières	2	3	50	130	23	-82	132	26	-80
Vancouver	142	127	-11	2,566	1,277	-50	2,708	1,404	-48
Victoria	31	12	-61	244	129	-47	275	141	-49
Windsor	10	18	80	4	33	##	14	51	264
Winnipeg	111	137	23	195	92	-53	306	229	-25
Total	2,035	2,097	3	14,326	10,822	-24	16,361	12,919	-21

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Provinces — 10,000+)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	%	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	%	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	%
N.L.	693	652	-6	276	442	60	969	1,094	13
P.E.I.	298	531	78	2,256	552	-76	2,554	1,083	-58
N.S.	1,814	1,459	-20	6,300	5,792	-8	8,114	7,251	-11
N.B.	945	752	-20	787	3,264	315	1,732	4,016	132
Qc	5,320	5,128	-4	52,197	39,548	-24	57,517	44,676	-22
Ont.	9,523	9,009	-5	47,774	49,762	4	57,297	58,771	3
Man.	2,098	2,234	6	3,012	1,740	-42	5,110	3,974	-22
Sask.	1,280	1,760	38	1,668	4,152	149	2,948	5,912	101
Alta.	17,009	17,757	4	27,934	35,521	27	44,943	53,278	19
B.C.	4,835	3,994	-17	34,055	25,735	-24	38,890	29,729	-24
Canada (10,000+)	43,815	43,276	-1	176,259	166,508	-6	220,074	209,784	-5
Canada (All Areas)	56,794	56,273	-1	182,529	172,759	-5	239,322	229,030	-4

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	%	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	%	Jan. 2025	Feb. 2025	%
Abbotsford – Mission	185	72	-61	3,360	1,824	-46	3,545	1,896	-47
Barrie	71	312	339	216	396	83	287	708	147
Belleville – Quinte West	185	200	8	0	1,980	##	185	2,180	##
Brantford	199	79	-60	2,904	0	-100	3,103	79	-97
Calgary	8,298	7,695	-7	12,924	22,884	77	21,222	30,579	44
Chilliwack	151	121	-20	151	504	234	199	625	214
Drummondville	265	256	-3	216	804	272	481	1,060	120
Edmonton	7,795	7,797	0	10,548	11,304	7	18,343	19,101	4
Fredericton	307	368	20	24	0	-100	331	368	11
Greater / Grand Sudbury	101	96	-5	0	0	-	101	96	-5
Guelph	22	1	-95	12	0	-100	34	1	-97
Halifax	1,008	773	-23	5,412	4,920	-9	6,420	5,693	-11
Hamilton	232	252	9	204	4,920	##	436	5,172	##
Kamloops	226	316	40	96	1,008	##	322	1,324	311
Kelowna	377	292	-23	4,116	1,224	-70	4,493	1,516	-66
Kingston	167	219	31	1,992	204	-90	2,159	423	-80
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	375	257	-31	2,148	3,372	57	2,523	3,629	44
Lethbridge	374	335	-10	1,236	0	-100	1,610	335	-79
London	601	451	-25	264	792	200	865	1,243	44
Moncton	400	274	-32	96	3,168	##	496	3,442	##
Montréal	1,580	1,187	-25	29,947	10,352	-65	31,527	11,539	-63
Nanaimo	65	69	6	0	948	##	65	1,017	##
Oshawa	198	248	25	0	48	##	198	296	49
Ottawa – Gatineau	2,474	2,900	17	8,220	11,424	39	10,694	14,324	34
Gatineau	264	245	-7	3,720	1,092	-71	3,984	1,337	-66
Ottawa	2,210	2,655	20	4,500	10,332	130	6,710	12,987	94
Peterborough	187	302	61	0	12	##	187	314	68
Québec	774	639	-17	5,856	5,916	1	6,630	6,555	-1
Red Deer	235	93	-60	144	24	-83	379	117	-69
Regina	209	555	166	1,152	3,624	215	1,361	4,179	207
Saguenay	426	446	5	576	720	25	1,002	1,166	16
St. Catharines – Niagara	450	259	-42	996	2,268	128	1,446	2,527	75
Saint John	212	47	-78	312	0	-100	524	47	-91
St. John's	475	571	20	264	228	-14	739	799	8
Saskatoon	1,004	1,328	32	492	468	-5	1,496	1,796	20
Sherbrooke	129	253	96	636	828	30	765	1,081	41
Thunder Bay	102	81	-21	168	0	-100	270	81	-70
Toronto	3,272	2,762	-16	25,788	15,744	-39	29,060	18,506	-36
Trois-Rivières	156	180	15	480	276	-43	636	456	-28
Vancouver	2,586	1,907	-26	22,392	15,324	-32	24,978	17,231	-31
Victoria	280	167	-40	1,080	1,548	43	1,360	1,715	26
Windsor	293	415	42	372	396	6	665	811	22
Winnipeg	1,820	1,892	4	2,832	1,104	-61	4,652	2,996	-36