Housing starts declined in May

Ottawa, June 15, 2023

The trend in housing starts has been declining steadily since November 2022. In May, the trend was 230,205 units, down 4.2% from 240,318 units in April. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada declined 23% in May (202,494 units) compared to April (261,357 units) according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The monthly SAAR of total urban starts (centres 10,000 population and over) declined 24%, with 182,842 units recorded in May. Multi-unit urban starts declined 30% to 139,890 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 6% to 42,952 units.

The Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal CMAs all recorded declines in total SAAR housing starts in May, with Vancouver down 45%, Toronto down 28%, and Montreal down 35%. All three recorded increases in single-detached starts that were offset by large decreases in multi-unit starts.

The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 19,652 units.

Quote:

We observed declines in both the SAAR and the trend of housing starts in May. The decline in housing starts is due to constraints in new construction, including labour shortages and higher construction and borrowing costs, which is considerably affecting multi-unit starts. Despite this, starts have only declined to the relatively high levels observed prior to 2020,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's 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 May housing starts data on July 18 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:

To request an interview with a CMHC market analyst, contact:

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

May Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	May 2022	May 2023	%	May 2022	May 2023	%	May 2022	May 2023	%
N.-L.	82	30	-63	15	10	-33	97	40	-59
P.E.I.	39	5	-87	39	9	-77	78	14	-82
N.S.	140	104	-26	735	212	-71	875	316	-64
N.B.	142	74	-48	566	281	-50	708	355	-50
Atlantic	403	213	-47	1,355	512	-62	1,758	725	-59
Qc	813	448	-45	4,842	1,677	-65	5,655	2,125	-62
Ont.	2,040	1,392	-32	5,504	4,435	-19	7,544	5,827	-23
Man.	219	158	-28	314	437	39	533	595	12
Sask.	153	87	-43	226	135	-40	379	222	-41
Alta.	1,374	1,047	-24	2,542	2,094	-18	3,916	3,141	-20
Prairies	1,746	1,292	-26	3,082	2,666	-13	4,828	3,958	-18
B.C.	683	563	-18	2,594	2,691	4	3,277	3,254	-1
Canada (10,000+)	5,685	3,908	-31	17,377	11,981	-31	23,062	15,889	-31

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
	May 2022	May 2023	%	May 2022	May 2023	%	May 2022	May 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	43	28	-35	47	157	234	90	185	106
Barrie	85	89	5	38	36	-5	123	125	2
Belleville – Quinte West	59	24	-59	12	4	-67	71	28	-61
Brantford	101	68	-33	261	63	-76	362	131	-64
Calgary	525	512	-2	1,244	1,564	26	1,769	2,076	17
Chilliwack	38	18	-53	58	59	2	96	77	-20
Drummondville	21	15	-29	66	45	-32	87	60	-31
Edmonton	640	423	-34	1,131	435	-62	1,771	858	-52
Fredericton	44	11	-75	151	22	-85	195	33	-83
Greater / Grand Sudbury	14	8	-43	16	10	-38	30	18	-40
Guelph	12	6	-50	6	5	-17	18	11	-39
Halifax	97	29	-70	717	144	-80	814	173	-79
Hamilton	81	29	-64	79	63	-20	160	92	-43
Kamloops	16	6	-63	30	3	-90	46	9	-80
Kelowna	68	32	-53	111	120	8	179	152	-15
Kingston	42	22	-48	153	9	-94	195	31	-84
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	102	76	-25	109	142	30	211	218	3
Lethbridge	24	1	-96	20	0	-100	44	1	-98
London	145	44	-70	375	199	-47	520	243	-53
Moncton	51	29	-43	298	152	-49	349	181	-48
Montréal	214	90	-58	2,730	710	-74	2,944	800	-73
Nanaimo	32	19	-41	16	46	188	48	65	35
Oshawa	49	40	-18	321	126	-61	370	166	-55
Ottawa – Gatineau	358	161	-55	957	268	-72	1,315	429	-67
Gatineau	40	22	-45	507	75	-85	547	97	-82
Ottawa	318	139	-56	450	193	-57	768	332	-57
Peterborough	20	6	-70	0	10	##	20	16	-20
Québec	74	51	-31	610	243	-60	684	294	-57
Red Deer	4	9	125	13	18	38	17	27	59
Regina	33	17	-48	79	24	-70	112	41	-63
Saguenay	42	13	-69	22	24	9	64	37	-42
St. Catharines – Niagara	122	140	15	141	82	-42	263	222	-16
Saint John	42	23	-45	115	80	-30	157	103	-34
St. John's	75	25	-67	14	6	-57	89	31	-65
Saskatoon	112	62	-45	146	84	-42	258	146	-43
Sherbrooke	36	18	-50	214	72	-66	250	90	-64
Thunder Bay	8	5	-38	0	0	-	8	5	-38
Toronto	432	325	-25	2,879	3,227	12	3,311	3,552	7
Trois-Rivières	36	21	-42	72	51	-29	108	72	-33
Vancouver	275	291	6	1,769	1,977	12	2,044	2,268	11
Victoria	55	50	-9	275	83	-70	330	133	-60
Windsor	45	25	-44	94	44	-53	139	69	-50
Winnipeg	191	138	-28	250	423	69	441	561	27
Total	4,463	2,999	-33	15,639	10,830	-31	20,102	13,829	-31

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
	April 2023	May 2023	%	April 2023	May 2023	%	April 2023	May 2023	%
N.L.	385	319	-17	76	35	-54	461	354	-23
P.E.I.	205	39	-81	504	108	-79	709	147	-79
N.S.	1,730	1,579	-9	2,426	2,539	5	4,156	4,118	-1
N.B.	936	794	-15	3,888	3,084	-21	4,824	3,878	-20
Qc	3,904	3,967	2	25,180	18,496	-27	29,084	22,463	-23
Ont.	14,940	15,505	4	95,820	52,202	-46	110,760	67,707	-39
Man.	1,784	1,772	-1	2,244	5,244	134	4,028	7,016	74
Sask.	945	851	-10	1,464	1,620	11	2,409	2,471	3
Alta.	9,769	11,919	22	17,115	24,552	43	26,884	36,471	36
B.C.	5,812	6,207	7	52,479	32,010	-39	58,291	38,217	-34
Canada (10,000+)	40,410	42,952	6	201,196	139,890	-30	241,606	182,842	-24
Canada (All Areas)	54,180	55,967	3	207,177	146,528	-29	261,357	202,494	-23

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
	April 2023	May 2023	%	April 2023	May 2023	%	April 2023	May 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	290	266	-8	132	1,884	##	422	2,150	409
Barrie	1,695	981	-42	4,896	432	-91	6,591	1,413	-79
Belleville – Quinte West	103	149	45	624	48	-92	727	197	-73
Brantford	1,148	610	-47	396	756	91	1,544	1,366	-12
Calgary	4,601	5,641	23	8,604	18,768	118	13,205	24,409	85
Chilliwack	49	230	369	49	708	##	193	938	386
Drummondville	105	95	-10	228	540	137	333	635	91
Edmonton	4,028	4,805	19	7,656	5,220	-32	11,684	10,025	-14
Fredericton	316	113	-64	48	264	450	364	377	4
Greater / Grand Sudbury	125	97	-22	48	120	150	173	217	25
Guelph	63	72	14	0	60	##	63	132	110
Halifax	462	320	-31	2,160	1,728	-20	2,622	2,048	-22
Hamilton	207	248	20	6,528	756	-88	6,735	1,004	-85
Kamloops	65	57	-12	1,752	36	-98	1,817	93	-95
Kelowna	528	402	-24	744	1,440	94	1,272	1,842	45
Kingston	312	274	-12	2,832	108	-96	3,144	382	-88
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	609	781	28	636	1,704	168	1,245	2,485	100
Lethbridge	125	12	-90	96	0	-100	221	12	-95
London	316	427	35	2,280	2,388	5	2,596	2,815	8
Moncton	160	213	33	2,076	1,824	-12	2,236	2,037	-9
Montréal	752	841	12	13,566	8,502	-37	14,318	9,343	-35
Nanaimo	340	187	-45	204	552	171	544	739	36
Oshawa	499	349	-30	4,908	1,512	-69	5,407	1,861	-66
Ottawa – Gatineau	1,461	1,561	7	15,252	3,216	-79	16,713	4,777	-71
Gatineau	212	329	55	5,364	900	-83	5,576	1,229	-78
Ottawa	1,249	1,232	-1	9,888	2,316	-77	11,137	3,548	-68
Peterborough	126	68	-46	192	120	-38	318	188	-41
Québec	550	455	-17	3,828	2,916	-24	4,378	3,371	-23
Red Deer	68	103	51	252	216	-14	320	319	0
Regina	229	177	-23	480	288	-40	709	465	-34
Saguenay	214	107	-50	600	288	-52	814	395	-51
St. Catharines – Niagara	625	1,465	134	1,032	984	-5	1,657	2,449	48
Saint John	244	208	-15	1,668	960	-42	1,912	1,168	-39
St. John's	379	301	-21	72	72	-	451	373	-17
Saskatoon	606	542	-11	624	1,008	62	1,230	1,550	26
Sherbrooke	193	185	-4	1,332	864	-35	1,525	1,049	-31
Thunder Bay	80	79	-1	0	0	-	80	79	-1
Toronto	4,033	4,077	1	55,512	38,724	-30	59,545	42,801	-28
Trois-Rivières	153	158	3	792	612	-23	945	770	-19
Vancouver	2,952	3,415	16	46,500	23,724	-49	49,452	27,139	-45
Victoria	417	622	49	564	996	77	981	1,618	65
Windsor	237	256	8	168	528	214	405	784	94
Winnipeg	1,475	1,553	5	2,016	5,076	152	3,491	6,629	90