Housing starts activity declined in January

Ottawa, February 15, 2023

The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada declined 13% in January (215,365 units) compared to December (248,296 units) according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The SAAR of total urban starts declined 16%, with 191,491 units recorded in January. Multi-unit urban starts declined 20% to 146,267 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 3% to 45,224 units.

The rural starts SAAR estimate was 23,874 units.

The trend in housing starts was 259,412 units in January, down 4% from 269,781 units in December. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

Quote:

“Both the Monthly SAAR and the six-month trend of housing starts declined nationally in the first month of 2023, with SAAR of housing starts hitting its lowest level since September 2020. Among Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, Montreal was the only market with increases in total SAAR housing starts in January, up 36%. Toronto declined 52% while Vancouver declined 14%, which contributed to the overall monthly decline in SAAR housing starts for Canada,” said Aled ab Iorwerth, CMHC's Deputy Chief Economist.

Key facts:

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 housing starts data on March 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 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.
Definitions and methodology to better understand the foundations of the Starts and Completions and Market Absorption surveys.

As a trusted source of housing information, CMHC provides unbiased housing-related data, research, and market information to help close knowledge gaps, and deepen understanding of complex housing issues to inform future policy decisions. 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.

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Additional information:

For information on this release:

We encourage journalists to contact CMHC Media Relations and arrange to speak to our market analysts regarding the housing starts in their respective Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs).

Media Relations, CMHC
media@cmhc-schl.gc.ca

January Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Jan. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Jan. 2023	%
N.-L.	41	20	-51	2	5	150	43	25	-42
P.E.I.	6	14	133	7	10	43	13	24	85
N.S.	89	63	-29	441	162	-63	530	225	-58
N.B.	20	26	30	68	31	-54	88	57	-35
Atlantic	156	123	-21	518	208	-60	674	331	-51
Qc	350	215	-39	3,385	1,830	-46	3,735	2,045	-45
Ont.	1,307	1,000	-23	2,472	3,886	57	3,779	4,886	29
Man.	138	154	12	509	169	-67	647	323	-50
Sask.	64	42	-34	60	76	27	124	118	-5
Alta.	567	554	-2	1,158	1,456	26	1,725	2,010	17
Prairies	769	750	-2	1,727	1,701	-2	2,496	2,451	-2
B.C.	421	317	-25	2,283	3,359	47	2,704	3,676	36
Canada (10,000+)	3,003	2,405	-20	10,385	10,984	6	13,388	13,389	0

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Jan. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Jan. 2022	Jan. 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	6	6	-	161	6	-96	167	12	-93
Barrie	54	38	-30	23	61	165	77	99	29
Belleville – Quinte West	12	5	-58	6	0	-100	18	5	-72
Brantford	34	44	29	0	0	-	34	44	29
Calgary	258	304	18	303	991	227	561	1,295	131
Chilliwack	31	16	-48	7	9	29	38	25	-34
Drummondville	12	8	-33	127	29	-77	139	37	-73
Edmonton	227	169	-26	682	399	-41	909	568	-38
Fredericton	9	12	33	0	2	##	9	14	56
Greater / Grand Sudbury	4	2	-50	1	0	-100	5	2	-60
Guelph	14	7	-50	12	8	-33	26	15	-42
Halifax	52	17	-67	422	87	-79	474	104	-78
Hamilton	41	23	-44	85	138	62	126	161	28
Kamloops	15	7	-53	4	8	100	19	15	-21
Kelowna	40	27	-33	47	349	##	87	376	332
Kingston	29	6	-79	0	38	##	29	44	52
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	28	51	82	79	335	324	107	386	261
Lethbridge	10	10	-	145	3	-98	155	13	-92
London	92	35	-62	266	285	7	358	320	-11
Moncton	6	4	-33	20	15	-25	26	19	-27
Montréal	87	68	-22	1,918	1,208	-37	2,005	1,276	-36
Nanaimo	13	9	-31	4	7	75	17	16	-6
Oshawa	36	18	-50	31	30	-3	67	48	-28
Ottawa – Gatineau	171	38	-78	469	63	-87	640	101	-84
Gatineau	60	0	-100	221	30	-86	281	30	-89
Ottawa	111	38	-66	248	33	-87	359	71	-80
Peterborough	11	4	-64	0	0	-	11	4	-64
Québec	57	28	-51	545	111	-80	602	139	-77
Red Deer	6	5	-17	0	14	##	6	19	217
Regina	31	6	-81	30	31	3	61	37	-39
Saguenay	18	6	-67	44	13	-70	62	19	-69
St. Catharines – Niagara	35	119	240	115	129	12	150	248	65
Saint John	4	6	50	48	0	-100	52	6	-88
St. John's	39	17	-56	2	3	50	41	20	-51
Saskatoon	27	33	22	29	42	45	56	75	34
Sherbrooke	27	17	-37	130	56	-57	157	73	-54
Thunder Bay	2	3	50	0	6	##	2	9	350
Toronto	478	390	-18	1,165	2,305	98	1,643	2,695	64
Trois-Rivières	17	20	18	14	88	##	31	108	248
Vancouver	164	174	6	1,616	2,437	51	1,780	2,611	47
Victoria	54	23	-57	232	440	90	286	463	62
Windsor	34	24	-29	67	221	230	101	245	143
Winnipeg	119	133	12	371	138	-63	490	271	-45
Total	2,404	1,932	-20	9,220	10,105	10	11,624	12,037	4

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Provinces — 10,000+)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	%
N.L.	637	389	-39	1,185	62	-95	1,822	451	-75
P.E.I.	313	418	34	420	120	-71	733	538	-27
N.S.	1,325	986	-26	3,259	1,979	-39	4,584	2,965	-35
N.B.	587	957	63	1,074	416	-61	1,661	1,373	-17
Qc	3,517	5,902	68	23,762	28,708	21	27,279	34,610	27
Ont.	18,161	18,370	1	85,247	53,175	-38	103,408	71,545	-31
Man.	1,430	2,479	73	3,852	2,028	-47	5,282	4,507	-15
Sask.	708	843	19	2,172	912	-58	2,880	1,755	-39
Alta.	10,541	8,973	-15	15,255	18,219	19	25,796	27,192	5
B.C.	6,660	5,907	-11	47,395	40,648	-14	54,055	46,555	-14
Canada (10,000+)	43,879	45,224	3	183,621	146,267	-20	227,500	191,491	-16
Canada (All Areas)	57,420	62,863	9	190,875	152,501	-20	248,296	215,365	-13

Data for 2022 based on 2016 Census Definitions and data for 2023 based on 2021 Census Definitions.

Source: CMHC

## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data — Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR) (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	%	Dec. 2022	Jan. 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	277	110	-60	1,356	72	-95	1,633	182	-89
Barrie	439	736	68	852	732	-14	1,291	1,468	14
Belleville – Quinte West	175	139	-21	60	0	-100	235	139	-41
Brantford	1,237	1,267	2	396	0	-100	1,633	1,267	-22
Calgary	4,816	4,604	-4	8,040	11,892	48	12,856	16,496	28
Chilliwack	248	247	0	248	108	-56	368	355	-4
Drummondville	225	239	6	408	348	-15	633	587	-7
Edmonton	4,034	2,739	-32	5,568	4,788	-14	9,602	7,527	-22
Fredericton	99	418	322	360	24	-93	459	442	-4
Greater / Grand Sudbury	394	105	-73	228	0	-100	622	105	-83
Guelph	56	102	82	156	96	-38	212	198	-7
Halifax	612	248	-59	2,352	1,044	-56	2,964	1,292	-56
Hamilton	916	383	-58	996	1,656	66	1,912	2,039	7
Kamloops	32	114	256	768	96	-88	800	210	-74
Kelowna	513	488	-5	4,044	4,188	4	4,557	4,676	3
Kingston	37	263	##	0	456	##	37	719	##
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	494	765	55	7,560	4,020	-47	8,054	4,785	-41
Lethbridge	182	194	7	468	36	-92	650	230	-65
London	861	678	-21	1,680	3,420	104	2,541	4,098	61
Moncton	255	247	-3	492	180	-63	747	427	-43
Montréal	1,193	1,807	51	10,976	14,777	35	12,169	16,584	36
Nanaimo	202	122	-40	1,272	84	-93	1,474	206	-86
Oshawa	556	454	-18	528	360	-32	1,084	814	-25
Ottawa – Gatineau	1,683	979	-42	2,412	756	-69	4,095	1,735	-58
Gatineau	13	0	-100	0	360	##	13	360	##
Ottawa	1,670	979	-41	2,412	396	-84	4,082	1,375	-66
Peterborough	156	119	-24	0	0	-	156	119	-24
Québec	816	822	1	3,636	1,332	-63	4,452	2,154	-52
Red Deer	0	82	##	192	168	-13	192	250	30
Regina	159	90	-43	396	372	-6	555	462	-17
Saguenay	30	269	##	24	156	##	54	425	##
St. Catharines – Niagara	1,261	2,249	78	1,692	1,548	-9	2,953	3,797	29
Saint John	169	163	-4	0	0	-	169	163	-4
St. John's	570	282	-51	1,056	36	-97	1,626	318	-80
Saskatoon	494	728	47	1,548	504	-67	2,042	1,232	-40
Sherbrooke	240	311	30	1,032	672	-35	1,272	983	-23
Thunder Bay	79	173	119	0	72	##	79	245	210
Toronto	7,846	6,641	-15	63,444	27,660	-56	71,290	34,301	-52
Trois-Rivières	228	354	55	1,380	1,056	-23	1,608	1,410	-12
Vancouver	3,544	3,292	-7	34,428	29,244	-15	37,972	32,536	-14
Victoria	516	356	-31	2,760	5,280	91	3,276	5,636	72
Windsor	499	520	4	204	2,652	##	703	3,172	351
Winnipeg	1,239	2,040	65	3,228	1,656	-49	4,467	3,696	-17