Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Reports Record Monthly Increase in Housing Starts in June

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported on Tuesday (7-18-23) that a significant increase in actual housing starts in June helped reverse the declining trend in housing starts observed over the last several months. The housing starts trend—a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts for all areas in Canada—increased 2.4% in June to 234,974 units, up from 229,520 units in May.

The standalone monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas of Canada increased 41% to 281,373 units, compared to May’s 200,018 units. This represents the largest month-over-month SAAR change in the last 10 years. CMHC says this is mostly due to multi-unit starts, which accounted for 82% of total starts.

The monthly SAAR of total urban starts in population centers of 10,000 or greater increased 46%, with 262,815 units recorded in June. Of that total, 59% (219,914 units) were multi-unit starts. Single-detached urban starts increased 3% to 42,901 units. The rural starts monthly SAAR was estimated at 18,558 units.