A pickup in single-family and multi-unit construction helped propel solid home construction last month, according to CMHC
New homebuilding across Canada saw an uptick in October compared with the previous month, boosted by improvements in both single-family and multi-unit construction.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said on Monday that housing starts trended at a clip of 240,761 units last month, up by 8% over September, as the six-month trend – a moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate – remained flat at 243,522 units.
Urban housing starts saw a 6% jump to a pace of 223,111 units, with multi-unit urban starts posting a 7% increase to 175,705 and single-detached urban starts rising by 1% to 47,406 units.
The figures mean urban centres with a population of 10,000 people or more have seen 188,567 actual housing starts between January and October, largely unchanged from 187,722 in the same period of 2023.
CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan pointed to some cause for optimism in the October numbers, although he highlighted that much work remains to be done to make a significant dent in Canada’s housing supply crisis.
🏡 The six-month trend in #HousingStarts was flat in October at 243,522 units.
— CMHC (@CMHC_ca) November 18, 2024
Despite this, October saw an 8% rise in total monthly SAAR of housing starts to 240,761units.
Let’s break down the data in more detail. (a🧵)
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“Actual year-to-date housing starts are similar to last year, but we continue to see higher activity in the Prairie provinces, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces,” he said, “while Ontario and British Columbia have seen declines in all housing types.
“The increases in the monthly SAAR in Toronto and Vancouver are a promising sign for Ontario and British Columbia, as they drove the national SAAR increase in October. Despite these results, we remain well below what is required to restore affordability in Canada’s urban centres.”
Actual starts have plunged by 18% in Vancouver this year compared with 2023, while Toronto has seen a dip of 21% (although CMHC noted last year saw a historically high pace of home construction in those cities).
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