CMHC noted some significant results following a decline in starts in recent months
Canada’s trend in housing starts saw a resurgence last month, with the six-month trend rising between October and November and total starts recovering from their recent decline.
The trend in housing starts was 267,365 units in November, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Commission (CMHC), an increase from the October figure of 264,583 units.
That result was propelled by a significant rise in multi-family starts in urban areas, said the body’s chief economist Bob Dugan, which made up for fewer single-detached starts.
“The six-month trend in housing starts was higher from October to November, with total starts rebounding from their declines in prior months,” Dugan said.
“For SAAR [Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate] housing starts in Canada’s urban areas, there was a slight decrease in single-detached starts, while multi-family starts experienced a large increase in November, resulting in higher overall starts for the month.”
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Dugan said that the level of housing starts activity in Canada remained high in historical terms on a trend and monthly SAAR basis, with one of the country’s largest housing markets posting a particularly noteworthy increase in total starts.
“Among Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, Vancouver was the only negative market, while Toronto had a significant gain in total SAAR starts in November, due to the multi-family segment more than doubling from the previous month,” he said.
The standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts across all areas in Canada for November totalled 301,279 units, rising by 26% over the October total. Urban starts saw their SAAR increase by 29% in November to 279,396 units, with multiple urban starts increasing by 41% to 221,153 units and single-detached urban starts posting a 1% decline to 58,243 units.
