Canadian Housing Starts Hold Flat in August

On Wednesday, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reported that the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts was nearly unchanged in August at 229,046 units, compared with 229,360 in July.

Year-over-year, actual housing starts in centers with populations of 10,000 or greater decreased 2.0% to 17,691 units in August, down from 18,112 a year earlier. The year-to-date total reached 149,542 units, down 4.0% from the same period in 2025.

The six-month “trend” in housing starts fell 1.3% to 244,149 units. The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.

The rural starts monthly SAAR estimate was 11,224 units. In centers with populations of 50,000 or more, the number of units under construction declined 0.4% month-over-month to 371,658 units.

Completions fell 11.2% from July to 17,550 units. The number of units with approved building permits but not yet started increased 0.7% month-over-month to 142,423 units.

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

“Housing starts continued to trend slightly down in August, as modest gains in Quebec and Alberta only partially offset the decline in other provinces, most notably, Ontario. The latest results are consistent with CMHC’s Housing Market Outlook. While the current pace of starts is elevated compared to recent years, we expect the downward trend to continue as construction activity moderates in the coming months especially towards the end of the year.”