Pace of housing starts surges 11% amid concerns of supply shortage
Shantae Campbell
The Vancouver Sun
Hits highest monthly level in almost a year
Canada’s annual rate of housing starts jumped 11 per cent in September. Photo by Michelle Berg/Postmedia
Canada’s annual rate of housing starts jumped 11 per cent to 299,589 units in September from 267,443 in August, reaching its highest monthly level since November 2021.
Data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released on Tuesday showed the rate of urban starts increased 12 per cent to 276,142 in the month while multi-unit urban starts surged 16 per cent to 216,549 units. The pace of urban starts of single-detached homes remained flat at 59,593 units.
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver recorded large increases in multi-unit starts on a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) basis, which resulted in an overall increase in Canada, Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist said in the report.
“An 85 per cent increase in single-detached units in Vancouver was offset by flat single-detached starts in Toronto and Montreal,” Dugan said, noting that starts remained elevated for the year.
Earlier this month, a CMHC report found Canada lacked the labour capacity needed to build the 3.5 million homes the agency says would be needed to restore housing affordability by 2030.
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