Housing starts increased in April

Ottawa, May 15, 2023

The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada increased 22% in April (261,559 units) compared to March (213,780 units) according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The monthly SAAR of total urban starts (centres 10,000 population and over) increased 26%, with 241,585 units recorded in April. Multi-unit urban starts increased 33% to 201,621 units, while single-detached urban starts decreased 2% to 39,964 units.

The Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal CMAs all recorded an increase in total SAAR housing starts in April, with Vancouver up 36%, Toronto up 54%, and Montreal up 43%. Both Toronto and Montreal recorded declines in single-detached starts that were offset by large increases in multi-unit starts, while Vancouver posted increases in both segments.

The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 19,974 units.

The trend in housing starts was 240,403 units in April, down 0.2% from 240,876 units in March. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

“While both the SAAR of housing starts and the trend have returned to levels observed before the pandemic, housing starts are expected to drop significantly in 2023, before seeing some recovery in 2024 and 2025, according to our latest forecast. The expected decline is due to constraints in new construction, including labour shortages, as well as higher construction and borrowing costs for housing developers,” 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 May housing starts data on June 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

April Housing Starts in Canada — All areas

Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Provinces)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2023	%	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2023	%	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2023	%
N.-L.	57	22	-61	8	6	-25	65	28	-57
P.E.I.	27	15	-44	61	42	-31	88	57	-35
N.S.	113	105	-7	27	197	##	140	302	116
N.B.	57	45	-21	88	323	267	145	368	154
Atlantic	254	187	-26	184	568	209	438	755	72
Qc	811	402	-50	4,663	2,463	-47	5,474	2,865	-48
Ont.	1,837	1,128	-39	4,163	7,809	88	6,000	8,937	49
Man.	154	156	1	389	187	-52	543	343	-37
Sask.	153	95	-38	362	122	-66	515	217	-58
Alta.	1,434	948	-34	2,096	1,454	-31	3,530	2,402	-32
Prairies	1,741	1,199	-31	2,847	1,763	-38	4,588	2,962	-35
B.C.	886	601	-32	3,455	4,390	27	4,341	4,991	15
Canada (10,000+)	5,529	3,517	-36	15,312	16,993	11	20,841	20,510	-2

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
	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2023	%	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2023	%	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	56	29	-48	147	11	-93	203	40	-80
Barrie	97	100	3	153	408	167	250	508	103
Belleville – Quinte West	27	8	-70	4	52	##	31	60	94
Brantford	18	61	239	76	33	-57	94	94	-
Calgary	609	447	-27	902	717	-21	1,511	1,164	-23
Chilliwack	106	6	-94	255	12	-95	361	18	-95
Drummondville	59	15	-75	96	19	-80	155	34	-78
Edmonton	619	370	-40	1,048	638	-39	1,667	1,008	-40
Fredericton	7	8	14	4	4	-	11	12	9
Greater / Grand Sudbury	11	12	9	6	4	-33	17	16	-6
Guelph	15	5	-67	0	0	-	15	5	-67
Halifax	81	40	-51	18	180	##	99	220	122
Hamilton	35	13	-63	432	544	26	467	557	19
Kamloops	27	8	-70	15	146	##	42	154	267
Kelowna	90	52	-42	195	62	-68	285	114	-60
Kingston	11	25	127	6	236	##	17	261	##
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	77	46	-40	130	53	-59	207	99	-52
Lethbridge	32	13	-59	26	8	-69	58	21	-64
London	101	24	-76	99	190	92	200	214	7
Moncton	27	13	-52	43	173	302	70	186	166
Montréal	248	86	-65	2,751	1,151	-58	2,999	1,237	-59
Nanaimo	29	36	24	87	17	-80	116	53	-54
Oshawa	118	55	-53	309	409	32	427	464	9
Ottawa – Gatineau	370	118	-68	843	1,271	51	1,213	1,389	15
Gatineau	83	16	-81	163	447	174	246	463	88
Ottawa	287	102	-64	680	824	21	967	926	-4
Peterborough	28	10	-64	0	16	##	28	26	-7
Québec	87	62	-29	900	319	-65	987	381	-61
Red Deer	9	6	-33	4	21	425	13	27	108
Regina	32	22	-31	64	40	-38	96	62	-35
Saguenay	35	20	-43	44	50	14	79	70	-11
St. Catharines – Niagara	110	61	-45	384	86	-78	494	147	-70
Saint John	20	18	-10	40	139	248	60	157	162
St. John's	54	18	-67	7	6	-14	61	24	-61
Saskatoon	115	66	-43	297	52	-82	412	118	-71
Sherbrooke	37	20	-46	135	111	-18	172	131	-24
Thunder Bay	0	1	##	0	0	-	0	1	##
Toronto	521	316	-39	1,521	4,626	204	2,042	4,942	142
Trois-Rivières	49	23	-53	232	66	-72	281	89	-68
Vancouver	335	292	-13	2,281	3,875	70	2,616	4,167	59
Victoria	80	44	-45	250	47	-81	330	91	-72
Windsor	57	19	-67	138	14	-90	195	33	-83
Winnipeg	121	136	12	359	168	-53	480	304	-37
Total	4,560	2,724	-40	14,301	15,974	12	18,861	18,698	-1

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
	Mar. 2023	Apr. 2023	%	Mar. 2023	Apr. 2023	%	Mar. 2023	Apr. 2023	%
N.L.	454	398	-12	24	74	208	478	472	-1
P.E.I.	275	210	-24	84	504	##	359	714	99
N.S.	1,878	1,770	-6	1,732	2,417	40	3,610	4,187	16
N.B.	1,183	983	-17	568	3,882	##	1,751	4,865	178
Qc	3,608	3,859	7	23,511	25,548	9	27,119	29,407	8
Ont.	16,025	14,683	-8	58,868	95,981	63	74,893	110,664	48
Man.	1,569	1,756	12	5,952	2,244	-62	7,521	4,000	-47
Sask.	844	937	11	1,896	1,464	-23	2,740	2,401	-12
Alta.	9,899	9,692	-2	15,819	17,087	8	25,718	26,779	4
B.C.	4,962	5,676	14	43,188	52,420	21	48,150	58,096	21
Canada (10,000+)	40,697	39,964	-2	151,642	201,621	33	192,339	241,585	26
Canada (All Areas)	56,056	53,843	-4	157,723	207,715	32	213,780	261,559	22

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
	Mar. 2023	Apr. 2023	%	Mar. 2023	Apr. 2023	%	Mar. 2023	Apr. 2023	%
Abbotsford – Mission	243	287	18	156	132	-15	399	419	5
Barrie	1,277	1,762	38	396	4,896	##	1,673	6,658	298
Belleville – Quinte West	90	96	7	48	624	##	138	720	422
Brantford	251	1,208	381	396	396	-	647	1,604	148
Calgary	5,040	4,501	-11	9,036	8,604	-5	14,076	13,105	-7
Chilliwack	87	51	-41	87	144	66	87	195	124
Drummondville	84	100	19	444	228	-49	528	328	-38
Edmonton	3,797	3,964	4	6,300	7,656	22	10,097	11,620	15
Fredericton	414	349	-16	48	48	-	462	397	-14
Greater / Grand Sudbury	201	129	-36	48	48	-	249	177	-29
Guelph	47	61	30	3,060	0	-100	3,107	61	-98
Halifax	832	470	-44	1,476	2,160	46	2,308	2,630	14
Hamilton	249	206	-17	552	6,528	##	801	6,734	##
Kamloops	55	62	13	96	1,752	##	151	1,814	##
Kelowna	659	552	-16	2,484	744	-70	3,143	1,296	-59
Kingston	284	317	12	180	2,832	##	464	3,149	##
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	1,160	604	-48	696	636	-9	1,856	1,240	-33
Lethbridge	102	119	17	0	96	##	102	215	111
London	463	307	-34	1,968	2,280	16	2,431	2,587	6
Moncton	126	157	25	24	2,076	##	150	2,233	##
Montréal	956	736	-23	9,071	13,555	49	10,027	14,291	43
Nanaimo	114	333	192	108	204	89	222	537	142
Oshawa	554	509	-8	384	4,908	##	938	5,417	478
Ottawa – Gatineau	1,855	1,421	-23	13,860	15,252	10	15,715	16,673	6
Gatineau	523	211	-60	1,236	5,364	334	1,759	5,575	217
Ottawa	1,332	1,210	-9	12,624	9,888	-22	13,956	11,098	-20
Peterborough	238	128	-46	0	192	##	238	320	34
Québec	600	565	-6	2,868	3,828	33	3,468	4,393	27
Red Deer	59	65	10	24	252	##	83	317	282
Regina	81	229	183	840	480	-43	921	709	-23
Saguenay	125	222	78	132	600	355	257	822	220
St. Catharines – Niagara	864	638	-26	480	1,032	115	1,344	1,670	24
Saint John	247	246	0	0	1,668	##	247	1,914	##
St. John's	493	392	-20	24	72	200	517	464	-10
Saskatoon	683	606	-11	732	624	-15	1,415	1,230	-13
Sherbrooke	166	189	14	1,416	1,332	-6	1,582	1,521	-4
Thunder Bay	80	79	-1	0	0	-	80	79	-1
Toronto	5,354	4,036	-25	33,360	55,512	66	38,714	59,548	54
Trois-Rivières	166	158	-5	492	792	61	658	950	44
Vancouver	2,519	2,884	14	33,876	46,500	37	36,395	49,384	36
Victoria	345	401	16	3,564	564	-84	3,909	965	-75
Windsor	275	238	-13	408	168	-59	683	406	-41
Winnipeg	1,340	1,455	9	5,232	2,016	-61	6,572	3,471	-47