The Canadian market recorded 234,974 housing starts in June, up from 229,520 units in May, according to new data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
CMHC’s measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada. The Vancouver and Toronto census metropolitan areas (CMAs) had the greatest increases in total SAAR housing starts last month with 71% and 100% increases, respectively – the two markets accounted for 47% of total housing starts in Canada’s urban centers. The Montreal CMA also experienced an uptick in total SAAR housing starts, albeit at a less robust 8% increase.
“We observed a large increase in the SAAR of housing starts in June which pushed the trend of housing starts upward after consecutive monthly declines since November 2022,” said CMHC Chief Economist Bob Dugan. “Despite this, total year-to-date housing starts for the first half of the year were 8% lower than they were over the same period in 2022 as the high interest rate environment continues to challenge housing starts through increasing borrowing costs.”
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