ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Canada's housing agency says starts surged in June to slightly reverse downward trend

An apartment building is under construction on Manhattan Drive in Fredericton, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray) An apartment building is under construction on Manhattan Drive in Fredericton, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray)
Share
OTTAWA -

Canada's housing agency says the annual pace of housing starts in June posted its largest month-over-month increase in a decade to slightly reverse a downward trend seen in recent months.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in Canada totalled 281,373 units in June, up from 200,018 in May as there was a spike in activity in the more volatile mutli-unit category.

The rate of multi-unit urban starts rose 59 per cent to 219,914, while the rate of starts for single-detached urban homes increased three per cent to 42,901.

Toronto and Vancouver led the way in construction, making up 47 per cent of total starts, as their actual year-to-date starts were 32 per cent and 49 per cent higher respectively than the same period last year.

Looking at the longer-term trend across the country, represented by the six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate, shows 234,974 units in June, up 2.4 per cent from May.

The uptick reverses a steady downward slide that started in November as rising interest rates made it harder to build, but not enough to shake the long-term trend, the agency said.

"Housing starts for the first half of the year were eight per cent lower than they were over the same period in 2022 as the high interest rate environment continues to challenge housing starts through increasing borrowing costs," said CHMC chief economist Bob Dugan in a statement.

The decline in housing starts from last year comes despite a CMHC projection that Canada needs significantly ramp up supply to tackle the housing crisis.

It projected in June 2022 that, based on the rate of construction at the time, the country would need to build an additional 3.5 million units of housing by 2030 on top of what was already expected to restore affordability.

TD economist Marc Ercolao said that the while the June jump was impressive, the six-month moving average continued to fall slightly.

"One month is not enough to turn around the long-running downward trend in the sector," he said in a note.

Slowing home sales continued to feed into falling construction activity, which, despite a second-quarter pop, are expected to trend lower going forward, said Ercolao.

"This burst should be short-lived and, as high interest rates continue to work through the economy, homebuilding will be a drag on residential investment in the coming quarters."

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

BREAKING

BREAKING

Three men were injured after a man armed with a knife entered a Montreal-area Islamic cultural centre Friday afternoon.

A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

The parents of a teenager who died after allegedly consuming the poisonous products of a Mississauga man are now suing him, as well as several doctors involved in her care.

The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.

Local Spotlight

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Stay Connected