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CMHC reports both the monthly level and the six-month trend of housing starts were flat in May.
Housing Starts in Canada – All Areas. (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)
With a gain of less than one per cent in the six-month trend and a drop of 0.2 per cent in the monthly figure, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is reporting a flat month in housing starts for May. The six-month trendline based on the seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) came in at 243,407 units, while May’s monthly SAAR slid to 279,510 units, compared to April’s 280,181.
A bright spot for May was in actual housing starts, which were up nine per cent year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater. There were 23,745 units recorded in May, compared to 21,814 units in May of 2024. Through the first five months of the year, the year-to-date total was 90,767, a gain of one per cent from the same period in 2024.
“Growth in actual starts activity in May was once again driven by increases of single-detached homes and purpose-built rentals in Quebec and the Prairie provinces,” stated Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC’s deputy chief economist. “By contrast, weak condominium market conditions in Toronto and Vancouver have contributed to significant declines in overall housing starts in these regions, in line with our recent analysis on these markets.”
Among Canada’s big three cities, Montreal posted an 11 per cent year-over-year increase in actual housing starts compared to May of 2024. This was driven by more multi-unit starts. Vancouver recorded a 10 per cent decrease in starts this month, driven primarily by lower multi-unit starts. And a decrease in multi-unit starts also drove the 22 per cent year-over-year decrease in Toronto’s housing starts.