Canadian Housing Starts at Highest Level Since November 2021

October 18, 2022
Central/North Vancouver Island | Peace Cariboo Skeena | South Vancouver Island | Thompson Okanagan

Bob Dugan, Chief Economist, CMHC

OTTAWA – The standalone monthly SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada was at the highest since November 2021 (305,889 units) last month, with 299,589 units, up 11 per cent from August.

The SAAR of total urban starts increased 12 per cent to 276,142 units in September. Multi-unit urban starts increased 16 per cent to 216,549 units, while single-detached urban starts were flat at 59,593 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 23,447 units.

“Both the six-month trend and monthly SAAR in housing starts were higher in September compared to August. September’s increase in monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas was driven by higher multi-unit starts. Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver recorded large increases in SAAR multi-unit starts, resulting in the overall increase for Canada. While single-detached units were up 85 per cent in Vancouver, single-detached starts were flat in Toronto and Montreal. Housing starts activity remains elevated in Canada in 2022,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist.

The trend in housing starts was 276,682 units in September, up 3 per cent from 267,813 units in August, 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.

@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
    Single-Detached All Others Total
   
    September
2021		 September
2022		  per cent September
2021		 September
2022		  per cent September
2021		 September
2022		  per cent
Provinces (10,000+)                  
N.-L.   55 46 -16 14 8 -43 69 54 -22
P.E.I.   28 1 -96 7 0 -100 35 1 -97
N.S.   272 281 3 136 104 -24 408 385 -6
N.B.   106 133 25 100 310 210 206 443 115
Atlantic   461 461 – 257 422 64 718 883 23
Qc   765 537 -30 4,595 3,156 -31 5,360 3,693 -31
Ont.   2,090 2,068 -1 5,926 9,168 55 8,016 11,236 40
Man.   197 227 15 522 138 -74 719 365 -49
Sask.   99 104 5 446 119 -73 545 223 -59
Alta.   1,125 1,461 30 1,027 1,962 91 2,152 3,423 59
Prairies   1,421 1,792 26 1,995 2,219 11 3,416 4,011 17
B.C.   715 747 4 1,977 3,527 78 2,692 4,274 59
Canada (10,000+) 5,452 5,605 3 14,750 18,492 25 20,202 24,097 19
Metropolitan Areas                  
Abbotsford-Mission 36 43 19 94 125 33 130 168 29
Barrie   100 152 52 109 395 262 209 547 162
Belleville   29 27 -7 7 17 143 36 44 22
Brantford   10 51 410 0 46 ## 10 97 ##
Calgary   484 590 22 542 1,089 101 1,026 1,679 64
Edmonton   470 678 44 433 782 81 903 1,460 62
Greater Sudbury 25 10 -60 155 18 -88 180 28 -84
Guelph   16 6 -63 0 123 ## 16 129 ##
Halifax   172 80 -53 101 22 -78 273 102 -63
Hamilton   37 100 170 43 89 107 80 189 136
Kelowna   70 44 -37 128 208 63 198 252 27
Kingston   25 61 144 6 22 267 31 83 168
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 62 86 39 168 213 27 230 299 30
Lethbridge   18 19 6 9 3 -67 27 22 -19
London   195 61 -69 238 245 3 433 306 -29
Moncton   39 35 -10 27 214 ## 66 249 277
Montréal   261 152 -42 2,652 1,962 -26 2,913 2,114 -27
Oshawa   111 87 -22 166 221 33 277 308 11
Ottawa-Gatineau 402 287 -29 998 1,728 73 1,400 2,015 44
  Gatineau   88 33 -63 524 124 -76 612 157 -74
  Ottawa   314 254 -19 474 1,604 238 788 1,858 136
Peterborough   18 50 178 0 6 ## 18 56 211
Québec   72 55 -24 695 414 -40 767 469 -39
Regina   29 21 -28 51 59 16 80 80 –
Saguenay   4 18 350 16 24 50 20 42 110
St. Catharines-Niagara 143 95 -34 162 697 330 305 792 160
Saint John   32 28 -13 48 0 -100 80 28 -65
St. John’s   46 34 -26 10 4 -60 56 38 -32
Saskatoon   59 77 31 392 45 -89 451 122 -73
Sherbrooke   42 30 -29 227 125 -45 269 155 -42
Thunder Bay   17 17 – 0 8 ## 17 25 47
Toronto   494 499 1 4,118 4,931 20 4,612 5,430 18
Trois-Rivières   30 15 -50 120 62 -48 150 77 -49
Vancouver   289 419 45 925 2,293 148 1,214 2,712 123
Victoria   60 53 -12 356 217 -39 416 270 -35
Windsor   33 61 85 32 122 281 65 183 182
Winnipeg   163 188 15 499 95 -81 662 283 -57
Total   4,093 4,229 3 13,527 16,624 23 17,620 20,853 18
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)
    Single-Detached All Others Total
    August
2022		 September
2022		  per cent August
2022		 September
2022		  per cent August
2022		 September
2022		  per cent
Provinces (10,000+)                  
N.L.   712 438 -38 233 79 -66 945 517 -45
P.E.I.   174 10 -94 588 0 -100 762 10 -99
N.S.   1,826 2,085 14 3,530 1,136 -68 5,356 3,221 -40
N.B.   1,272 1,153 -9 4,731 3,706 -22 6,003 4,859 -19
Qc   7,178 5,080 -29 40,663 34,736 -15 47,841 39,816 -17
Ont.   23,069 23,049 0 72,993 108,075 48 96,062 131,124 36
Man.   2,707 2,675 -1 3,540 1,656 -53 6,247 4,331 -31
Sask.   1,330 1,224 -8 3,840 1,428 -63 5,170 2,652 -49
Alta.   14,751 15,830 7 18,140 23,602 30 32,891 39,432 20
B.C.   6,805 8,049 18 38,261 42,131 10 45,066 50,180 11
Canada (10,000+) 59,824 59,593 0 186,519 216,549 16 246,343 276,142 12
Canada (All Areas) 77,525 76,539 -1 192,870 223,051 16 270,397 299,589 11
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission 442 420 -5 216 1,500 ## 658 1,920 192
Barrie   1,252 1,393 11 816 4,740 481 2,068 6,133 197
Belleville   267 271 1 180 204 13 447 475 6
Brantford   654 635 -3 1,272 552 -57 1,926 1,187 -38
Calgary   5,814 6,399 10 8,064 13,068 62 13,878 19,467 40
Edmonton   6,716 7,460 11 6,396 9,384 47 13,112 16,844 28
Greater Sudbury 156 88 -44 432 216 -50 588 304 -48
Guelph   146 85 -42 468 1,476 215 614 1,561 154
Halifax   560 689 23 2,628 264 -90 3,188 953 -70
Hamilton   879 1,243 41 984 1,068 9 1,863 2,311 24
Kelowna   936 597 -36 6,672 2,496 -63 7,608 3,093 -59
Kingston   179 549 207 1,248 264 -79 1,427 813 -43
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo 680 985 45 4,188 2,556 -39 4,868 3,541 -27
Lethbridge   248 225 -9 2,400 36 -99 2,648 261 -90
London   1,309 689 -47 516 2,940 470 1,825 3,629 99
Moncton   453 277 -39 3,396 2,568 -24 3,849 2,845 -26
Montréal   1,786 1,506 -16 15,392 23,456 52 17,178 24,962 45
Oshawa   1,381 957 -31 2,796 2,652 -5 4,177 3,609 -14
Ottawa-Gatineau 3,189 2,820 -12 12,672 20,736 64 15,861 23,556 49
  Gatineau   903 222 -75 96 1,488 ## 999 1,710 71
  Ottawa   2,286 2,598 14 12,576 19,248 53 14,862 21,846 47
Peterborough 380 720 89 48 72 50 428 792 85
Québec   905 657 -27 8,844 4,968 -44 9,749 5,625 -42
Regina   240 292 22 492 708 44 732 1,000 37
Saguenay   304 262 -14 480 288 -40 784 550 -30
St. Catharines-Niagara 1,132 1,335 18 1,380 8,364 ## 2,512 9,699 286
Saint John   255 243 -5 0 0 – 255 243 -5
St. John’s   568 353 -38 168 48 -71 736 401 -46
Saskatoon   1,036 965 -7 3,228 540 -83 4,264 1,505 -65
Sherbrooke   563 331 -41 1,032 1,500 45 1,595 1,831 15
Thunder Bay 129 113 -12 0 96 ## 129 209 62
Toronto   5,834 5,972 2 46,152 59,172 28 51,986 65,144 25
Trois-Rivières 418 162 -61 552 744 35 970 906 -7
Vancouver   2,440 4,508 85 20,748 27,516 33 23,188 32,024 38
Victoria   783 684 -13 3,684 2,604 -29 4,467 3,288 -26
Windsor   751 698 -7 2,004 1,464 -27 2,755 2,162 -22
Winnipeg   2,255 2,248 0 2,712 1,140 -58 4,967 3,388 -32
Data for  2021 and  2022  based on 2016 Census Definitions.              
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey              
## not calculable / extreme value                    
                                         

 

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