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Housing Starts in Canada – All Areas. (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)
December housing starts ended the year with a whimper, but even that didn’t stop the annual tally from landing in positive territory, reports Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
According to its most recent report on starts, actual 2024 housing starts were up two per cent in centres with populations over 10,000, with 227,697 units recorded. This compares to 223,513 in 2023. Combined with an estimated 17,423 actual rural housing starts, the total for all areas in Canada in 2024 was 245,120 – also a two per cent gain compared to 2023.
The housing agency cited historically high rental construction levels and overall increased starts in Alberta, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces for the increase.
Moving in the opposite direction, Canada’s six largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) saw a combined three per cent year-over-year decrease from 2023, driven by lower starts levels in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa where multi-unit starts fell due to weak pre-construction condominium sales. Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal saw higher starts activity in 2024, particularly in the multi-unit segment, as rental starts helped lift the totals.
Looking at the six-month trend, a moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada, housing starts were flat in December, coming in at 242,637 units. The total monthly SAAR for all areas in Canada fell dramatically, however, decreasing 13 per cent in December, to 231,468 units, a sizeable drop compared to November’s 267,140 units.
“Canada’s urban centres saw an uptick in housing starts in 2024 compared to last year, marking the third-highest year on record,” said Mathieu Laberge, CMHC’s chief economist and senior vice-president of market insights. “While this annual increase shows some signs of progress, Canada still needs significantly higher supply growth to restore affordability in urban centres. Last spring, we estimated Canada could build up to 400,000 new housing units annually, based on current resources devoted to residential construction.”