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Housing Starts in Canada – All Areas (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)
The six-month trend in housing starts decreased 0.7 per cent in March, coming in at 235,316 units, reports Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.
The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada decreased 3.3 per cent in March, landing at 214,155 units, compared to the 221,405 reported in February.
Actual starts down 12.5%
Actual housing starts were also down, dropping 12.5 per cent year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater. Just under 15,000 units were recorded in those centres in March, compared to 17,052 in March of 2024. The monthly SAAR for those centres also decreased, falling 2.8 per cent to 203,285 units, as compared to February’s 209,093 units.
Among Canada’s “Big 3” cities, Montreal posted the only year-over-year increase in actual housing starts, rising 138 per cent from March of last year due to a rise in multi-unit starts. Vancouver recorded a 59 per cent decrease, and starts in Toronto fell 65 per cent, driven lower by decreases in multi-unit starts in Vancouver and in both multi-unit and single-detached starts in Toronto.