Housing starts trend down in January

Ottawa, February 15, 2024

Total SAAR housing starts for all areas in Canada decreased 10% in January 2024 (223,589 units) compared to December 2023 (248,968), according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The six-month trend in housing starts decreased from 249,757 units in December 2023 to 244,827 units in January 2024, a 2% drop. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

Despite these declines, the actual number of housing starts across Canada in centres of 10,000 population and over was up 13% to 14,878 units in January 2024 compared to 13,220 units in January 2023. The year-over-year increase was driven by high multi-unit starts.

Actual housing starts were 49% higher year-over-year in Toronto but were 44% and 6% lower in Vancouver and Montreal, respectively. This suggests many other metropolitan areas made significant contributions to total housing starts in January 2024.

Quote:

“The SAAR of housing starts declined in January pushing the trend down for the second consecutive month. Despite the trend performance, actual starts saw strong year-over-year growth, driven by high multi-unit starts, particularly in Toronto. In fact, from a historical perspective, we observed the second highest number of housing starts for the month of January going back to 1990,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s Chief Economist.

Key facts:

The monthly SAAR of total urban (centres 10,000 population and over) housing starts decreased 11%, with 208,119 units recorded. Multi-unit urban starts decreased 14% to 164,789 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 0.08% to 43,330 units.
The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 15,470 units.
Total SAAR housing starts were up 179% in Toronto, driven by a significant increase in multi-unit starts. Montreal and Vancouver both posted declines of 28% and 55%, respectively, due to sizeable decreases in multi-unit starts.
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 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.

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 all levels of governments, consumers and the housing industry.

Additional information:

For information on this release:

To request an interview with a CMHC economist, contact:

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. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Jan. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Jan. 2023	Jan. 2024	%
N.-L.	17	34	100	3	36	##	20	70	250
P.E.I.	14	17	21	10	67	##	24	84	250
N.S.	90	112	24	119	365	207	209	477	128
N.B.	34	28	-18	32	206	##	66	234	255
Atlantic	155	191	23	164	674	311	319	865	171
Qc	195	207	6	1,745	2,287	31	1,940	2,494	29
Ont.	993	690	-31	3,777	5,128	36	4,770	5,818	22
Man.	149	111	-26	208	189	-9	357	300	-16
Sask.	40	58	45	100	169	69	140	227	62
Alta.	539	809	50	1,429	2,101	47	1,968	2,910	48
Prairies	728	978	34	1,737	2,459	42	2,465	3,437	39
B.C.	321	257	-20	3,405	2,007	-41	3,726	2,264	-39
Canada (10,000+)	2,392	2,323	-3	10,828	12,555	16	13,220	14,878	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 in Centres 10,000 Population and Over (Metropolitan Areas)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Jan. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Jan. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Jan. 2023	Jan. 2024	%
Abbotsford – Mission	6	16	167	6	78	##	12	94	##
Barrie	38	20	-47	61	8	-87	99	28	-72
Belleville – Quinte West	5	7	40	0	0	-	5	7	40
Brantford	44	13	-70	0	0	-	44	13	-70
Calgary	304	487	60	991	1,464	48	1,295	1,951	51
Chilliwack	16	8	-50	9	1	-89	25	9	-64
Drummondville	8	4	-50	29	1	-97	37	5	-86
Edmonton	169	242	43	399	441	11	568	683	20
Fredericton	12	8	-33	2	7	250	14	15	7
Greater / Grand Sudbury	2	0	-100	0	2	##	2	2	-
Guelph	7	2	-71	8	0	-100	15	2	-87
Halifax	17	51	200	87	289	232	104	340	227
Hamilton	23	47	104	138	204	48	161	251	56
Kamloops	7	1	-86	8	1	-88	15	2	-87
Kelowna	27	11	-59	349	107	-69	376	118	-69
Kingston	6	9	50	38	2	-95	44	11	-75
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	51	14	-73	335	167	-50	386	181	-53
Lethbridge	10	15	50	3	88	##	13	103	##
London	35	27	-23	285	155	-46	320	182	-43
Moncton	4	5	25	15	95	##	19	100	426
Montréal	68	63	-7	1,208	1,134	-6	1,276	1,197	-6
Nanaimo	9	27	200	7	177	##	16	204	##
Oshawa	18	17	-6	30	312	##	48	329	##
Ottawa – Gatineau	38	93	145	63	308	389	101	401	297
Gatineau	0	11	##	30	181	##	30	192	##
Ottawa	38	82	116	33	127	285	71	209	194
Peterborough	4	5	25	0	0	-	4	5	25
Québec	28	25	-11	111	538	385	139	563	305
Red Deer	5	5	-	14	6	-57	19	11	-42
Regina	6	5	-17	31	110	255	37	115	211
Saguenay	6	24	300	13	18	38	19	42	121
St. Catharines – Niagara	119	57	-52	129	38	-71	248	95	-62
Saint John	6	9	50	0	90	##	6	99	##
St. John's	17	34	100	3	36	##	20	70	250
Saskatoon	33	51	55	42	46	10	75	97	29
Sherbrooke	17	17	-	56	67	20	73	84	15
Thunder Bay	3	0	-100	6	6	-	9	6	-33
Toronto	390	281	-28	2,305	3,724	62	2,695	4,005	49
Trois-Rivières	20	9	-55	88	88	-	108	97	-10
Vancouver	174	121	-30	2,437	1,342	-45	2,611	1,463	-44
Victoria	23	11	-52	440	171	-61	463	182	-61
Windsor	24	11	-54	221	196	-11	245	207	-16
Winnipeg	133	99	-26	138	171	24	271	270	0
Total	1,932	1,951	1	10,105	11,688	16	12,037	13,639	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) (Provinces — 10,000+)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	%
N.L.	525	644	23	269	584	117	794	1,228	55
P.E.I.	178	356	100	288	804	179	466	1,160	149
N.S.	1,643	1,795	9	5,596	4,423	-21	7,239	6,218	-14
N.B.	918	931	1	3,347	2,608	-22	4,265	3,539	-17
Qc	4,056	4,700	16	35,464	34,683	-2	39,520	39,383	0
Ont.	13,596	12,811	-6	54,212	66,808	23	67,808	79,619	17
Man.	1,707	1,773	4	4,440	2,268	-49	6,147	4,041	-34
Sask.	1,093	1,266	16	4,404	2,028	-54	5,497	3,294	-40
Alta.	14,990	14,312	-5	27,876	26,377	-5	42,866	40,689	-5
B.C.	4,590	4,742	3	55,350	24,206	-56	59,940	28,948	-52
Canada (10,000+)	43,296	43,330	0	191,246	164,789	-14	234,542	208,119	-11
Canada (All Areas)	52,339	54,248	4	196,630	169,341	-14	248,968	223,589	-10

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. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	%	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	%
Abbotsford – Mission	67	291	334	132	936	##	199	1,227	##
Barrie	1,080	456	-58	204	96	-53	1,284	552	-57
Belleville – Quinte West	250	219	-12	48	0	-100	298	219	-27
Brantford	554	353	-36	648	0	-100	1,202	353	-71
Calgary	6,691	7,576	13	11,460	17,568	53	18,151	25,144	39
Chilliwack	140	117	-16	140	12	-91	980	129	-87
Drummondville	307	104	-66	720	12	-98	1,027	116	-89
Edmonton	6,934	4,928	-29	14,928	5,292	-65	21,862	10,220	-53
Fredericton	299	275	-8	24	84	250	323	359	11
Greater / Grand Sudbury	23	4	-83	24	24	-	47	28	-40
Guelph	120	26	-78	1,632	0	-100	1,752	26	-99
Halifax	914	841	-8	4,620	3,468	-25	5,534	4,309	-22
Hamilton	466	706	52	7,272	2,448	-66	7,738	3,154	-59
Kamloops	48	21	-56	1,860	12	-99	1,908	33	-98
Kelowna	431	250	-42	3,948	1,284	-67	4,379	1,534	-65
Kingston	400	381	-5	96	24	-75	496	405	-18
Kitchener – Cambridge – Waterloo	741	275	-63	17,520	2,004	-89	18,261	2,279	-88
Lethbridge	234	291	24	84	1,056	##	318	1,347	324
London	381	507	33	480	1,860	288	861	2,367	175
Moncton	382	296	-23	2,592	1,140	-56	2,974	1,436	-52
Montréal	811	1,411	74	20,377	13,757	-32	21,188	15,168	-28
Nanaimo	70	371	430	156	2,124	##	226	2,495	##
Oshawa	571	485	-15	228	3,744	##	799	4,229	429
Ottawa – Gatineau	1,982	2,196	11	8,280	3,696	-55	10,262	5,892	-43
Gatineau	228	167	-27	72	2,172	##	300	2,339	##
Ottawa	1,754	2,029	16	8,208	1,524	-81	9,962	3,553	-64
Peterborough	365	191	-48	384	0	-100	749	191	-74
Québec	408	559	37	960	6,456	##	1,368	7,015	413
Red Deer	78	82	5	0	72	##	78	154	97
Regina	241	97	-60	2,208	1,320	-40	2,449	1,417	-42
Saguenay	171	1,191	##	2,400	216	-91	2,571	1,407	-45
St. Catharines – Niagara	574	1,181	106	372	456	23	946	1,637	73
Saint John	240	319	33	528	1,080	105	768	1,399	82
St. John's	378	526	39	240	432	80	618	958	55
Saskatoon	834	1,138	36	1,956	552	-72	2,790	1,690	-39
Sherbrooke	189	258	37	1,176	804	-32	1,365	1,062	-22
Thunder Bay	90	4	-96	48	72	50	138	76	-45
Toronto	4,296	4,298	0	13,284	44,688	236	17,580	48,986	179
Trois-Rivières	102	147	44	204	1,056	418	306	1,203	293
Vancouver	2,117	2,192	4	38,496	16,104	-58	40,613	18,296	-55
Victoria	339	183	-46	7,404	2,052	-72	7,743	2,235	-71
Windsor	219	217	-1	144	2,352	##	363	2,569	##
Winnipeg	1,407	1,446	3	3,660	2,052	-44	5,067	3,498	-31