(Ottawa) Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says the annual pace of housing starts in December rose 18 per cent from November, helped by a rise in urban multi-family housing starts in Vancouver and in Montreal.
The state housing agency says the monthly seasonally adjusted annualized number of housing starts for December was 249,255 units, up from 210,918 in November.
This statistic decreased by 35% in Toronto, due to a sharp decline in multi-family housing starts.
Montreal and Vancouver both recorded gains, of 66% and 92% respectively, thanks to a significant increase in collective housing starts (semi-detached, townhouses and apartments).
Across the country, in urban centers with 10,000 inhabitants or more, the seasonally adjusted and annualized monthly number of housing starts increased by 20%, to 234,705. It increased by 26% in the collective housing segment and decreased by 2% in the single-family housing segment, to 191,463 and 43,242 respectively.
The annual rate of housing starts in rural areas was estimated at 14,550 for December.
The six-month rolling average of monthly seasonally adjusted annualized housing starts rates in December was 249,898, down 2.1% from November’s 255,198.
For the year as a whole, CMHC indicates that the actual number of housing starts nationally decreased by 7% in centers of 10,000 inhabitants and more, to stand at 223,513 , compared to 240,590 in 2022. This drop is mainly explained by a 25% decline in starts of single-family homes.