Multi-family starts plunged in May

June 20, 2023



Canadian housing starts fell 23 per cent in May 2023 from a month earlier. And, in a troublesome statistic due to a government push to create affordable housing, multi-family urban starts plunged 30 per cent month-over-month to 139,900 units.
In Metro Vancouver where the province is trying to encourage new home starts, residential construction starts were down 45 per cent in May from a month earlier.
While starts also cooled in Greater Toronto, condo apartment starts through the first five months of 2023 totalled 9,936 homes—up from 9,411 at the same time in 2022.
May 2023 Ontario-wide starts cratered by more than 43,000 new homes to just 67,000 units which drove a large portion of the national decline, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
In B.C., total starts fell by 20,100 from April to 38,200 units in May, while starts in Quebec were down 6,600 units, month-to-month, to 22,500 new homes.
Atlantic region starts were down 1,700 to 88,500 units with declines in all four provinces.   
In contrast, starts increased by 12,600 to 46,000 new homes on the Prairies, boosted by gains in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.