Canadian Housing Starts Declined Month-Over-Month in May

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported Thursday (6-15-23) that the standalone monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of total housing starts for all areas in Canada declined 23% in May to 202,494 units, compared to April’s 261,357 units. The “trend” measure, a six-month moving average of the monthly SAAR of nationwide housing starts, was 230,205 units in May—down 4.2% from 240,318 units in April.

CMHC reports that the monthly SAAR of total urban starts (population centers of 10,000 or more) declined 24%, with 182,842 units recorded in May. Multi-unit urban starts fell 30% to 139,890 units, while single-detached urban starts increased 6% to 42,950 units. The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 19,652 units.

Adding additional background and his analysis to the CMHC report for May, CMHC’s Chief Economist Bob Dugan said:

“We observed declines in both the SAAR and the trend of housing starts in May. The decline in housing starts is due to constraints in new construction, including labor shortages and higher construction and borrowing costs, which is considerably affecting multi-unit starts. Despite this, starts have only declined to the relatively high levels observed prior to 2020.”