Canada housing starts surge 16 per cent

August 24, 2020

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) reports the annual pace of housing starts in July rose nearly 16 per cent compared with June.
The monthly seasonally adjusted pace of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 245,604 units in July—up 15.8 per cent from 212,095 units in June. Urban starts increased by 17.4 per cent in July to 231,995 units.
Multiple urban starts increased by 18.8 per cent to 184,431 units in July while single-detached urban starts rose 12.3 per cent to 47,564 units.
“The national trend in housing starts increased for a second month in July,” said Bob Dugan, CMHC's chief economist.
“Higher multi-family starts in major urban areas, including Toronto, Vancouver and oil-producing centres in the Prairies drove the national increase,” said Dugan. He added, “We expect national starts to trend lower in the near term as a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic and housing indicators.”
Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 13,609 units in July.
The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts rose to 204,376 in July, up from 199,778 units a month earlier.