Canadian housing starts trend lower in January

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 15, 2022 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 254,133 units in January, down from 261,352 units in December, 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.

Housing Starts in Canada -All Areas (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

"On a trend and monthly SAAR basis, the level of housing starts activity in Canada remains historically high; however, the six-month trend in housing starts was lower from December to January," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. "For SAAR housing starts in Canada's urban areas, single-detached starts were higher, while multi-family starts declined in January. Among Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Montreal was the only market to post growth in total SAAR starts in January, due to higher single-detached and multi-family 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.

The standalone monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada in January was 230,754 units, a decrease of 3% from 238,405 units in December. The SAAR of total urban starts decreased by 5% to 204,428 units in January. Multiple urban starts decreased by 9% to 144,332 units, while single-detached urban starts increased by 7% to 60,096 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 26,326 units.

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 February data on March 15 at 8:15 AM ET.

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

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Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
				Single-Detached						All Others						Total
				January 2021		January 2022		%		January  2021		January 2022		%		January 2021		January 2022		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.				23		41		78		14		2		-86		37		43		16
P.E.I.				30		6		-80		16		7		-56		46		13		-72
N.S.				144		100		-31		330		451		37		474		551		16
N.B.				34		25		-26		103		69		-33		137		94		-31
Atlantic				231		172		-26		463		529		14		694		701		1
Qc				587		378		-36		3,922		3,284		-16		4,509		3,662		-19
Ont.				1,457		1,307		-10		4,848		2,365		-51		6,305		3,672		-42
Man.				130		135		4		542		427		-21		672		562		-16
Sask.				71		61		-14		244		61		-75		315		122		-61
Alta.				816		575		-30		1,250		1,200		-4		2,066		1,775		-14
Prairies				1,017		771		-24		2,036		1,688		-17		3,053		2,459		-19
B.C.				614		407		-34		1,946		2,319		19		2,560		2,726		6
Canada (10,000+)				3,906		3,035		-22		13,215		10,185		-23		17,121		13,220		-23
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission				21		6		-71		53		161		204		74		167		126
Barrie				31		54		74		221		23		-90		252		77		-69
Belleville				7		12		71		14		6		-57		21		18		-14
Brantford				13		34		162		150		0		-100		163		34		-79
Calgary				344		258		-25		778		303		-61		1,122		561		-50
Edmonton				369		227		-38		433		682		58		802		909		13
Greater Sudbury				9		4		-56		0		1		##		9		5		-44
Guelph				15		14		-7		2		12		##		17		26		53
Halifax				88		52		-41		291		422		45		379		474		25
Hamilton				73		41		-44		116		85		-27		189		126		-33
Kelowna				46		40		-13		31		47		52		77		87		13
Kingston				7		29		314		106		0		-100		113		29		-74
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo				64		28		-56		779		79		-90		843		107		-87
Lethbridge				23		10		-57		8		145		##		31		155		400
London				161		92		-43		34		266		##		195		358		84
Moncton				4		6		50		98		20		-80		102		26		-75
Montréal				231		87		-62		2,322		1,918		-17		2,553		2,005		-21
Oshawa				65		36		-45		33		31		-6		98		67		-32
Ottawa-Gatineau				218		171		-22		443		469		6		661		640		-3
Gatineau				86		60		-30		125		221		77		211		281		33
Ottawa				132		111		-16		318		248		-22		450		359		-20
Peterborough				19		11		-42		0		0		-		19		11		-42
Québec				80		57		-29		916		545		-41		996		602		-40
Regina				20		31		55		30		30		-		50		61		22
Saguenay				24		18		-25		30		44		47		54		62		15
St. Catharines-Niagara				58		35		-40		113		115		2		171		150		-12
Saint John				17		4		-76		2		48		##		19		52		174
St. John's				22		39		77		8		2		-75		30		41		37
Saskatoon				50		27		-46		214		29		-86		264		56		-79
Sherbrooke				28		27		-4		82		130		59		110		157		43
Thunder Bay				1		2		100		0		0		-		1		2		100
Toronto				338		478		41		2,573		1,165		-55		2,911		1,643		-44
Trois-Rivières				12		17		42		29		14		-52		41		31		-24
Vancouver				211		164		-22		1,183		1,616		37		1,394		1,780		28
Victoria				73		54		-26		143		232		62		216		286		32
Windsor				21		34		62		115		67		-42		136		101		-26
Winnipeg				103		119		16		515		371		-28		618		490		-21
Total				2,866		2,318		-19		11,865		9,078		-23		14,731		11,396		-23
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
			December 2021		January 2022		%		December 2021		January 2022		%		December 2021		January 2022		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.			515		914		77		298		47		-84		813		961		18
P.E.I.			260		210		-19		228		84		-63		488		294		-40
N.S.			1,569		1,415		-10		7,266		5,439		-25		8,835		6,854		-22
N.B.			837		827		-1		3,178		880		-72		4,015		1,707		-57
Qc			4,507		13,019		189		37,997		54,113		42		42,504		67,132		58
Ont.			22,325		24,383		9		44,315		34,759		-22		66,640		59,142		-11
Man.			2,545		2,225		-13		4,488		5,124		14		7,033		7,349		4
Sask.			1,225		1,107		-10		1,536		732		-52		2,761		1,839		-33
Alta.			13,104		8,790		-33		16,718		15,004		-10		29,822		23,794		-20
B.C.			9,402		7,206		-23		42,274		28,150		-33		51,676		35,356		-32
Canada (10,000+)			56,289		60,096		7		158,298		144,332		-9		214,587		204,428		-5
Canada (All Areas)			72,111		78,515		9		166,295		152,238		-8		238,405		230,754		-3
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission			212		114		-46		1,980		1,932		-2		2,192		2,046		-7
Barrie			1,194		1,169		-2		744		276		-63		1,938		1,445		-25
Belleville			309		275		-11		96		72		-25		405		347		-14
Brantford			2,492		1,250		-50		24		0		-100		2,516		1,250		-50
Calgary			5,382		3,910		-27		8,184		3,636		-56		13,566		7,546		-44
Edmonton			5,424		3,592		-34		7,380		8,184		11		12,804		11,776		-8
Greater Sudbury			135		176		30		48		12		-75		183		188		3
Guelph			129		239		85		384		144		-63		513		383		-25
Halifax			974		696		-29		5,940		5,064		-15		6,914		5,760		-17
Hamilton			707		557		-21		3,132		1,020		-67		3,839		1,577		-59
Kelowna			1,188		924		-22		5,484		564		-90		6,672		1,488		-78
Kingston			393		887		126		204		0		-100		597		887		49
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo			902		466		-48		5,388		948		-82		6,290		1,414		-78
Lethbridge			299		184		-38		192		1,740		##		491		1,924		292
London			1,933		1,952		1		1,272		3,192		151		3,205		5,144		60
Moncton			262		357		36		1,692		240		-86		1,954		597		-69
Montréal			1,678		2,525		50		21,099		23,931		13		22,777		26,456		16
Oshawa			590		852		44		228		372		63		818		1,224		50
Ottawa-Gatineau			2,935		4,025		37		2,040		5,628		176		4,975		9,653		94
Gatineau			176		1,020		480		132		2,652		##		308		3,672		##
Ottawa			2,759		3,005		9		1,908		2,976		56		4,667		5,981		28
Peterborough			436		285		-35		0		0		-		436		285		-35
Québec			764		1,628		113		7,260		6,540		-10		8,024		8,168		2
Regina			382		395		3		672		360		-46		1,054		755		-28
Saguenay			118		560		375		360		528		47		478		1,088		128
St. Catharines-Niagara			790		686		-13		1,212		1,380		14		2,002		2,066		3
Saint John			281		120		-57		720		576		-20		1,001		696		-30
St. John's			481		686		43		288		24		-92		769		710		-8
Saskatoon			990		538		-46		768		348		-55		1,758		886		-50
Sherbrooke			192		732		281		3,120		1,560		-50		3,312		2,292		-31
Thunder Bay			156		154		-1		0		0		-		156		154		-1
Toronto			6,493		7,734		19		23,328		13,980		-40		29,821		21,714		-27
Trois-Rivières			234		394		68		1,572		168		-89		1,806		562		-69
Vancouver			3,033		2,800		-8		23,556		19,392		-18		26,589		22,192		-17
Victoria			1,280		892		-30		6,540		2,784		-57		7,820		3,676		-53
Windsor			374		808		116		864		804		-7		1,238		1,612		30
Winnipeg			2,107		1,876		-11		3,996		4,452		11		6,103		6,328		4
Data for  2021 and  2022  based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey
## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Media Relations, CMHC, [email protected]