Housing starts for May 2024

Ottawa, June 17, 2024

The total monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts for all areas in Canada increased 10% in May (264,506 units) compared to April (241,111), according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The six-month trend in housing starts increased 3.8% from 238,859 units in April to 247,830 units in May. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The actual number of housing starts across Canada in urban centres of 10,000 population and over was up 39% to 21,652 units in May compared to 15,606 units in May 2023. The year-over-year increase was driven by higher multi-unit starts, up 49% and higher single-detached starts, up 6%.

May’s total actual housing starts were higher in two of Canada’s three major cities, with Toronto up 26% and Montréal up 200% compared to May a year ago. Vancouver declined 13%. Montreal’s total starts result was driven by a 59% increase in single-detached starts and a 218% increase in multi-unit starts versus May 2023.

Quote:

“The focus for homebuilders remains on multi-unit construction in Canada’s major centres as both the SAAR and Trend of housing starts increased in May, following two consecutive months of decline. This was due to growth in actual year-over-year starts, driven by significantly higher multi-unit starts, particularly in Montréal and Québec. While this is good news for housing supply, we do expect downward pressure on starts through the rest of 2024,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist.

Key facts:

The monthly SAAR of total urban housing starts (centres with population above 10,000) was 11% higher at 246,111 units recorded. Multi-unit urban starts increased 13% to 203,141 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 2% to 42,970 units.
The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 18,395 units.
Total SAAR housing starts were up 104% in Montréal, driven by a 106% increase in multi-unit starts. Vancouver declined 32%, due to decreases in multi-unit starts. Toronto increased 47% with multi-unit starts higher.
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 June housing starts data on July 16 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 to 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.

Information on this release:

To request an interview with a CMHC economist, 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 2023	May 2024	%	May 2023	May 2024	%	May 2023	May 2024	%
N.-L.	29	50	72	6	11	83	35	61	74
P.E.I.	5	34	##	9	100	##	14	134	##
N.S.	110	117	6	259	535	107	369	652	77
N.B.	77	94	22	267	474	78	344	568	65
Atlantic	221	295	33	541	1,120	107	762	1,415	86
Qc	388	561	45	1,587	4,379	176	1,975	4,940	150
Ont.	1,348	1,156	-14	4,374	5,906	35	5,722	7,062	23
Man.	148	124	-16	428	95	-78	576	219	-62
Sask.	84	115	37	109	40	-63	193	155	-20
Alta.	1,026	1,359	32	2,064	2,754	33	3,090	4,113	33
Prairies	1,258	1,598	27	2,601	2,889	11	3,859	4,487	16
B.C.	558	401	-28	2,730	3,347	23	3,288	3,748	14
Canada (10,000+)	3,773	4,011	6	11,833	17,641	49	15,606	21,652	39

Data for 2023 and 2024 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 2023	May 2024	%	May 2023	May 2024	%	May 2023	May 2024	%
Abbotsford – Mission	28	16	-43	157	125	-20	185	141	-24
Barrie	89	27	-70	36	60	67	125	87	-30
Belleville – Quinte West	24	18	-25	4	4	-	28	22	-21
Brantford	68	26	-62	63	0	-100	131	26	-80
Calgary	512	617	21	1,564	1,379	-12	2,076	1,996	-4
Chilliwack	18	13	-28	59	13	-78	77	26	-66
Drummondville	15	13	-13	45	61	36	60	74	23
Edmonton	423	577	36	435	1,253	188	858	1,830	113
Fredericton	11	32	191	22	64	191	33	96	191
Greater / Grand Sudbury	8	6	-25	10	22	120	18	28	56
Guelph	6	8	33	5	0	-100	11	8	-27
Halifax	29	60	107	144	466	224	173	526	204
Hamilton	29	21	-28	63	429	##	92	450	389
Kamloops	6	21	250	3	87	##	9	108	##
Kelowna	32	32	-	120	1,020	##	152	1,052	##
Kingston	22	10	-55	9	20	122	31	30	-3
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	76	37	-51	142	30	-79	218	67	-69
Lethbridge	1	39	##	0	19	##	1	58	##
London	44	58	32	199	99	-50	243	157	-35
Moncton	29	28	-3	152	367	141	181	395	118
Montréal	90	143	59	710	2,259	218	800	2,402	200
Nanaimo	19	15	-21	46	12	-74	65	27	-58
Oshawa	40	87	118	126	82	-35	166	169	2
Ottawa – Gatineau	161	194	20	268	1,344	401	429	1,538	259
Gatineau	22	44	100	75	776	##	97	820	##
Ottawa	139	150	8	193	568	194	332	718	116
Peterborough	6	7	17	10	2	-80	16	9	-44
Québec	51	54	6	243	587	142	294	641	118
Red Deer	9	7	-22	18	5	-72	27	12	-56
Regina	17	21	24	24	17	-29	41	38	-7
Saguenay	13	25	92	24	11	-54	37	36	-3
St. Catharines – Niagara	140	117	-16	82	186	127	222	303	36
Saint John	23	23	-	80	26	-68	103	49	-52
St. John's	25	43	72	6	11	83	31	54	74
Saskatoon	62	86	39	84	22	-74	146	108	-26
Sherbrooke	18	32	78	72	90	25	90	122	36
Thunder Bay	5	11	120	0	2	##	5	13	160
Toronto	325	290	-11	3,227	4,190	30	3,552	4,480	26
Trois-Rivières	21	29	38	51	129	153	72	158	119
Vancouver	291	182	-37	1,977	1,789	-10	2,268	1,971	-13
Victoria	50	28	-44	83	122	47	133	150	13
Windsor	25	31	24	44	86	95	69	117	70
Winnipeg	138	106	-23	423	81	-81	561	187	-67
Total	2,999	3,190	6	10,830	16,571	53	13,829	19,761	43

Data for 2023 and 2024 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
	Apr. 2024	May 2024	%	Apr. 2024	May 2024	%	Apr. 2024	May 2024	%
N.L.	623	544	-13	293	114	-61	916	658	-28
P.E.I.	111	224	102	96	1,200	##	207	1,424	##
N.S.	1,918	1,625	-15	5,428	6,399	18	7,346	8,024	9
N.B.	939	950	1	2,046	5,453	167	2,985	6,403	115
Qc	4,524	5,173	14	26,360	46,518	76	30,884	51,691	67
Ont.	13,249	12,909	-3	56,673	69,409	22	69,922	82,318	18
Man.	1,498	1,433	-4	6,036	1,140	-81	7,534	2,573	-66
Sask.	774	1,095	41	3,180	480	-85	3,954	1,575	-60
Alta.	14,522	14,657	1	30,427	32,469	7	44,949	47,126	5
B.C.	4,059	4,360	7	48,620	39,959	-18	52,679	44,319	-16
Canada (10,000+)	42,217	42,970	2	179,159	203,141	13	221,376	246,111	11
Canada (All Areas)	54,390	54,410	0	186,721	210,093	13	241,111	264,506	10

Data for 2023 and 2024 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
	Apr. 2024	May 2024	%	Apr. 2024	May 2024	%	Apr. 2024	May 2024	%
Abbotsford – Mission	237	154	-35	468	1,500	221	705	1,654	135
Barrie	691	289	-58	108	720	##	799	1,009	26
Belleville – Quinte West	205	132	-36	96	48	-50	301	180	-40
Brantford	341	258	-24	60	0	-100	401	258	-36
Calgary	6,357	6,874	8	15,636	16,548	6	21,993	23,422	6
Chilliwack	118	145	23	118	156	32	226	301	33
Drummondville	114	133	17	540	732	36	654	865	32
Edmonton	6,403	5,978	-7	12,696	15,036	18	19,099	21,014	10
Fredericton	384	294	-23	0	768	##	384	1,062	177
Greater / Grand Sudbury	11	31	182	0	264	##	11	295	##
Guelph	30	91	203	384	0	-100	414	91	-78
Halifax	903	783	-13	5,016	5,592	11	5,919	6,375	8
Hamilton	225	223	-1	492	5,148	##	717	5,371	##
Kamloops	97	196	102	60	1,044	##	157	1,240	##
Kelowna	299	377	26	2,040	12,240	##	2,339	12,617	439
Kingston	251	142	-43	144	240	67	395	382	-3
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	558	410	-27	5,628	360	-94	6,186	770	-88
Lethbridge	129	404	213	612	228	-63	741	632	-15
London	618	583	-6	4,500	1,188	-74	5,118	1,771	-65
Moncton	273	214	-22	1,836	4,404	140	2,109	4,618	119
Montréal	769	1,277	66	13,141	27,033	106	13,910	28,310	104
Nanaimo	130	142	9	4,464	144	-97	4,594	286	-94
Oshawa	439	806	84	1,080	984	-9	1,519	1,790	18
Ottawa – Gatineau	1,841	1,929	5	3,708	16,128	335	5,549	18,057	225
Gatineau	309	542	75	384	9,312	##	693	9,854	##
Ottawa	1,532	1,387	-9	3,324	6,816	105	4,856	8,203	69
Peterborough	124	87	-30	168	24	-86	292	111	-62
Québec	582	559	-4	7,572	7,044	-7	8,154	7,603	-7
Red Deer	86	112	30	756	60	-92	842	172	-80
Regina	228	229	0	2,448	204	-92	2,676	433	-84
Saguenay	71	237	234	96	132	38	167	369	121
St. Catharines – Niagara	627	1,109	77	1,116	2,232	100	1,743	3,341	92
Saint John	18	194	##	120	312	160	138	506	267
St. John's	645	507	-21	132	132	-	777	639	-18
Saskatoon	436	791	81	720	264	-63	1,156	1,055	-9
Sherbrooke	230	346	50	768	1,080	41	998	1,426	43
Thunder Bay	96	169	76	0	24	##	96	193	101
Toronto	4,001	3,999	0	32,988	50,280	52	36,989	54,279	47
Trois-Rivières	79	215	172	336	1,548	361	415	1,763	325
Vancouver	2,008	2,056	2	32,616	21,468	-34	34,624	23,524	-32
Victoria	241	341	41	5,820	1,464	-75	6,061	1,805	-70
Windsor	376	357	-5	3,468	1,032	-70	3,844	1,389	-64
Winnipeg	1,207	1,200	-1	5,880	972	-83	7,087	2,172	-69