Activity levels significantly varied from region to region
The pace of new home construction in Canada trended downward to end at 254,133 units in January, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
This was markedly lower than the 261,352 units seen in December, exhibiting notable regional variances as well.
“For SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas, single-detached starts were higher, while multi-family starts declined in January,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist of the CMHC. “Among Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Montreal was the only market to post growth in total SAAR starts in January, due to higher single-detached and multi-family starts.”
Read more: How is Canadian construction investment shaping up?
The standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada in January stood at 230,754 units. This represented a slight decrease of 3% from 238,405 units in December.
The SAAR of total urban starts fell by 5% to 204,428 units in January. Multiple urban starts dropped by 9% to 144,332 units, while single-detached urban starts exhibited a 7% increase to 60,096 units. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 26,326 units, CMHC said.
However, the Crown corporation stressed that its monthly analyses of this data do not represent a comprehensive picture of overall residential construction activity in Canada.
“In some situations, analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as the multi-unit segment largely drives the market and can vary significantly from one month to the next,” CMHC said.
