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The annual pace of housing starts, also known as new home starts, fell 17 per cent in October from September, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said Tuesday.
The National Housing Agency says the seasonally adjusted annual housing start rate was 232,765 units in October, up from 279,174 units in September.
Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, deputy chief economist at CMHC, says the drop was due to lower launches in Ontario and British Columbia in October.
However, she noted that stronger starts in markets such as Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton have helped keep the country's year-to-date totals strong compared to the same period last year.
As Canadian cities grapple with the housing crisis, experts say a greater emphasis on creating the so-called “missing middle” will bring greater affordability and choice to the market.
Actual housing starts in centers with a population of 10,000 or more were 19,174 units in October, up from 19,763 units in October 2024, while the year-to-date total for homes with a population of 10,000 or more was 197,207 units, up from 188,660 for the same period in 2024.
The six-month rolling average of the seasonally adjusted annual total housing starts was 268,907 in October, down from 277,081 in September.
“While these results typically reflect investment decisions made months or even years ago, they also highlight persistent and significant regional contrasts in housing trends across the country,” Bourassa-Ochoa said.
Rishi Sondhi, an economist at TD Economics, said October data showed builders were bringing new properties “at a fairly rapid pace, supported by a purpose-built rental market.”
“It is notable that housing construction in the rest of Canada is much stronger than in Ontario, as the latter is weighed down by a decline in multifamily construction,” he wrote in a note.
Sondhi also said the trends shown in the October data suggest a further decline in housing starts in the near future.
“This is consistent with our view that homebuilding is likely to decline next year as modest population growth puts pressure on rents and weak pre-sale activity dampens the start to the real estate market,” he wrote.
