Canadian Housing Starts Fall 3.3% in March

On Tuesday, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported that the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts in Canada declined 3.3% in March to 214,155 units, down from 221,405 unit in February.

Year-over-year, actual housing starts were down 12.5% in centers with a population of 10,000 or greater, with 14,924 units recorded in March (compared to 17,052 in March 2024).

The “trend” in housing starts decreased 0.7% to 235,316 units. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

Other highlights of the report include the following:

• The monthly SAAR for centers with a population of 10,000 or more decreased 2.8% to 203,285 units.
• The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 10,870 units.
• Among Canada’s big 3 cities, Montreal posted a 138% year-over-year increase in actual housing starts, with increases in multi-unit starts. Vancouver recorded a 59% decrease, and starts in Toronto fell 65%, driven lower by decreases in multi-unit starts in Vancouver and both multi-unit and single-detached starts in Toronto.