Canadian Housing Starts Fall in June

On Thursday, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported that the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts fell 6% in June to 238,971 units, compared with 253,083 in May.

Year-over-year, actual housing starts in centers with populations of 10,000 or greater decreased 13% to 20,265 units in June, down from 23,292 a year earlier. The year-to-date total reached 113,017 units, down 3.0% from the same period in 2025.

Among Canada’s three largest census metropolitan areas, actual housing starts increased 10.0% year-over-year in Montreal and 25.0% in Toronto, driven by higher multi-unit starts. Vancouver starts declined 35.0% because of lower multi-unit and single-detached construction.

In centers with populations of 50,000 or greater, units under construction edged up 0.2% to 375,469. Completions increased 8.4% to 18,298 units, while units with approved building permits but not yet started declined 1.1% to 137,324.

The six-month “trend” in housing starts fell 2.8% to 248,123 units. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

In remarks accompanying the report, CMHC Deputy Chief Economist Kevin Hughes said:

“Through the first six months of the year, the rate of housing starts in Canada is lower than last year’s rate, in line with our baseline forecast published in February. There is little doubt that the slowdown reflects rising uncertainty, higher development costs, weaker demand, and more unsold homes. Looking forward, we expect that this environment will continue to hold back new housing construction in Canada over the short-to-medium term and drive 2026 actual housing starts below last year’s levels.”