Canadian Housing Starts Trend Higher in July 2022

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced on Tuesday (8-16-22) its trend in housing starts for July 2022. This “trend” measure is a six-month average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts in Canada. According to the CMHC press release, the trend in housing starts in July was 264,426 units, up from 257,862 units in June.

The standalone monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada in July was 275,329 units, an increase of 1.1% from June. The SAAR of total urban starts decreased by 0.8% to 254,371 units in July. Multi-unit urban starts declined by 0.3% to 195,987 units, while single-detached urban starts decreased by 2.3% to 58,834 units. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 20,958 units.

Commenting on the July CMHC Housing Trend Report, CMHC Deputy Chief Economist Aled Ab Iorwerth said:

“The monthly SAAR and trend were higher in July compared to June nationally, as historically elevated levels of housing starts activity continue in Canada, which have been well above 200,000 units since 2020. Monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada’s urban areas declined in July, driven by lower single-detached starts. However, Vancouver and Toronto both registered much stronger declines in multi-unit starts than in single-detached starts, while Montreal saw similarly large declines in both unit types.”