Canadian housing starts trend lower in March

OTTAWA, ON, April 19, 2022 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 252,497 units in March, down from 253,296 units in February, 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)

Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC (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, hovering above 200,000 units since June 2020; however, the trend in housing starts posted a small decline from February to March," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. "The decline in the monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada's urban areas, was driven by lower multi-unit starts, which were partially offset by higher single-detached starts in March. Among Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Montreal was the only market to post growth in total SAAR starts, which was driven by higher multi-unit 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 March was 246,243 units, a decrease of 2% from February. The SAAR of total urban starts decreased by 2% to 220,708 units in March. Multi-unit urban starts decreased by 5% to 154,876 units, while single-detached urban starts increased by 8% to 65,832 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 25,535 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 April data on May 16 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
		March 2021	March 2022	%	March 2021	March 2022	%	March 2021	March 2022	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.		12	29	142	11	14	27	23	43	87
P.E.I.		10	20	100	2	53	##	12	73	##
N.S.		83	60	-28	209	75	-64	292	135	-54
N.B.		11	17	55	4	269	##	15	286	##
Atlantic		116	126	9	226	411	82	342	537	57
Qc		722	484	-33	3,673	3,497	-5	4,395	3,981	-9
Ont.		1,997	1,630	-18	6,663	4,584	-31	8,660	6,214	-28
Man.		207	103	-50	145	434	199	352	537	53
Sask.		96	104	8	337	56	-83	433	160	-63
Alta.		875	1,079	23	1,099	1,200	9	1,974	2,279	15
Prairies		1,178	1,286	9	1,581	1,690	7	2,759	2,976	8
B.C.		695	646	-7	4,838	1,745	-64	5,533	2,391	-57
Canada (10,000+)		4,708	4,172	-11	16,981	11,927	-30	21,689	16,099	-26
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		40	42	5	24	45	88	64	87	36
Barrie		14	65	364	0	287	##	14	352	##
Belleville		20	9	-55	0	0	-	20	9	-55
Brantford		31	30	-3	13	28	115	44	58	32
Calgary		337	543	61	721	699	-3	1,058	1,242	17
Edmonton		417	454	9	325	462	42	742	916	23
Greater Sudbury		4	10	150	0	17	##	4	27	##
Guelph		7	21	200	19	0	-100	26	21	-19
Halifax		39	41	5	157	56	-64	196	97	-51
Hamilton		66	75	14	54	152	181	120	227	89
Kelowna		83	52	-37	174	149	-14	257	201	-22
Kingston		45	7	-84	200	0	-100	245	7	-97
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		79	58	-27	286	275	-4	365	333	-9
Lethbridge		25	7	-72	14	6	-57	39	13	-67
London		158	97	-39	77	107	39	235	204	-13
Moncton		3	3	-	0	74	##	3	77	##
Montréal		257	141	-45	2,211	1,756	-21	2,468	1,897	-23
Oshawa		117	90	-23	309	66	-79	426	156	-63
Ottawa-Gatineau		333	199	-40	863	1,119	30	1,196	1,318	10
Gatineau		28	64	129	154	457	197	182	521	186
Ottawa		305	135	-56	709	662	-7	1,014	797	-21
Peterborough		16	29	81	0	0	-	16	29	81
Québec		115	107	-7	452	766	69	567	873	54
Regina		22	28	27	78	39	-50	100	67	-33
Saguenay		6	14	133	20	20	-	26	34	31
St. Catharines-Niagara		100	55	-45	188	80	-57	288	135	-53
Saint John		3	7	133	0	0	-	3	7	133
St. John's		11	28	155	5	14	180	16	42	163
Saskatoon		73	70	-4	259	16	-94	332	86	-74
Sherbrooke		56	22	-61	275	74	-73	331	96	-71
Thunder Bay		1	0	-100	0	0	-	1	0	-100
Toronto		505	546	8	4,604	2,617	-43	5,109	3,163	-38
Trois-Rivières		26	13	-50	40	6	-85	66	19	-71
Vancouver		261	261	-	3,450	902	-74	3,711	1,163	-69
Victoria		73	60	-18	528	61	-88	601	121	-80
Windsor		19	50	163	20	10	-50	39	60	54
Winnipeg		175	78	-55	119	305	156	294	383	30
Total		3,537	3,312	-6	15,485	10,208	-34	19,022	13,520	-29
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
		February 2022		March 2022		%		February 2022		March 2022		%		February 2022		March 2022		%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.		1,073		1,482		38		175		222		27		1,248		1,704		37
P.E.I.		281		744		165		120		636		430		401		1,380		244
N.S.		1,167		1,178		1		1,457		933		-36		2,624		2,111		-20
N.B.		949		1,729		82		340		3,786		##		1,289		5,515		328
Qc		8,079		7,847		-3		39,142		50,624		29		47,221		58,471		24
Ont.		23,524		26,051		11		75,520		57,551		-24		99,044		83,602		-16
Man.		2,221		1,326		-40		6,120		5,208		-15		8,341		6,534		-22
Sask.		1,673		1,619		-3		1,824		672		-63		3,497		2,291		-34
Alta.		14,227		15,758		11		15,775		14,644		-7		30,002		30,402		1
B.C.		7,737		8,098		5		23,334		20,600		-12		31,071		28,698		-8
Canada (10,000+)		60,931		65,832		8		163,807		154,876		-5		224,738		220,708		-2
Canada (All Areas)		78,321		83,911		7		171,925		162,331		-6		250,246		246,243		-2
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		451		479		6		1,008		540		-46		1,459		1,019		-30
Barrie		1,046		2,292		119		252		3,444		##		1,298		5,736		342
Belleville		691		230		-67		0		0		-		691		230		-67
Brantford		421		264		-37		72		336		367		493		600		22
Calgary		5,805		7,980		37		9,132		8,388		-8		14,937		16,368		10
Edmonton		5,755		6,156		7		4,728		5,544		17		10,483		11,700		12
Greater Sudbury		134		1,382		##		0		204		##		134		1,586		##
Guelph		202		264		31		48		0		-100		250		264		6
Halifax		764		795		4		1,080		672		-38		1,844		1,467		-20
Hamilton		862		877		2		1,776		1,824		3		2,638		2,701		2
Kelowna		581		582		0		324		1,788		452		905		2,370		162
Kingston		157		117		-25		108		0		-100		265		117		-56
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		1,234		719		-42		1,044		3,300		216		2,278		4,019		76
Lethbridge		295		135		-54		1,188		72		-94		1,483		207		-86
London		1,670		1,504		-10		588		1,284		118		2,258		2,788		23
Moncton		189		286		51		24		888		##		213		1,174		451
Montréal		2,402		2,357		-2		13,704		21,122		54		16,106		23,479		46
Oshawa		597		1,287		116		372		792		113		969		2,079		115
Ottawa-Gatineau		2,704		3,285		21		8,916		13,428		51		11,620		16,713		44
Gatineau		200		1,124		462		4,572		5,484		20		4,772		6,608		38
Ottawa		2,504		2,161		-14		4,344		7,944		83		6,848		10,105		48
Peterborough		439		586		33		0		0		-		439		586		33
Québec		1,079		1,405		30		4,092		9,192		125		5,171		10,597		105
Regina		335		393		17		156		468		200		491		861		75
Saguenay		981		586		-40		216		240		11		1,197		826		-31
St. Catharines-Niagara		730		792		8		1,152		960		-17		1,882		1,752		-7
Saint John		352		439		25		0		0		-		352		439		25
St. John's		1,036		1,443		39		132		168		27		1,168		1,611		38
Saskatoon		1,152		1,050		-9		1,656		192		-88		2,808		1,242		-56
Sherbrooke		844		284		-66		1,200		888		-26		2,044		1,172		-43
Thunder Bay		96		90		-6		48		0		-100		144		90		-38
Toronto		9,355		8,337		-11		56,364		31,404		-44		65,719		39,741		-40
Trois-Rivières		111		390		251		900		72		-92		1,011		462		-54
Vancouver		3,731		3,394		-9		13,416		10,824		-19		17,147		14,218		-17
Victoria		644		725		13		4,404		732		-83		5,048		1,457		-71
Windsor		931		1,240		33		120		120		-		1,051		1,360		29
Winnipeg		1,804		961		-47		4,980		3,660		-27		6,784		4,621		-32
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]