Ottawa surges as national housing starts settle

March 17, 2018

The pace of single-detached house starts in Ottawa surged to an 11-month high in February and multi-family starts increased in Vancouver, but national housing starts moderated in most of the country, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC).
The trend in Canadian housing starts was 225,276 units in February compared to 224,572 units in January, CMHC reports.
“The national trend in housing starts has been very stable since November 2017, masking offsetting trends for multi-unit and single-detached dwellings,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC’s chief economist. “Multi-unit starts have trended higher in recent months in most major urban centres while single-detached starts have trended lower.”
Metro Vancouver multi-family starts, primarily condo apartments, reached 3,518 actual starts in the first two months of this year, up from 2,331 in the same period last year.
According to CMHC reports, Ottawa’s pace of single-detached housing starts in February 2018 was the highest over an 11-month period while housing starts in Toronto CMA trended higher in February on the back of a record number of apartment starts.