In 2023, Quebec experienced one of the worst performances in housing in the country, with a drop in housing starts of 32% compared to the previous year, and the lowest level of activity in residential construction since 1955.
These data, taken from the latest report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), released Tuesday, show the extent of the difficulties that Quebec is experiencing in this area, currently grappling with one of the worst housing crises of its history.
For comparison, all Canadian provinces recorded an 8% drop in housing starts in 2023, a drop “almost entirely attributable to the situation in Quebec,” argue CMHC analysts. In fact, they illustrate, by removing Quebec data from those of Canada, the country finds itself with a drop in construction starts of only 2%.
For the chief economist at CMHC, Bob Dugan, this slowdown can be explained overall by two main factors: “the sharp decline in single-family housing starts and the tightening of the economic situation.”
Even worse in Montreal
The situation is hardly more encouraging for the greater Montreal region, where 15,200 construction starts were recorded in 2023, a drop of 37% or 8,900 construction sites compared to 2022.
Clearly, summarizes the CMHC, we are witnessing an almost complete disappearance of the construction of houses (especially individual) in favor of apartments in greater Montreal in 2023. The level of house construction would never have been so low for at least 1972.
In this region, which includes more than half of Quebec’s population, 90% of construction starts concern collective housing (co-ownership or rental), a historic record. Only 10% concerned the construction of a single-family residence.
Nevertheless, we are still currently witnessing in greater Montreal the lowest level of construction of co-ownerships since 2001, and the lowest level of construction of housing intended for rental since 2016, maintains the CMHC.
We also observed a greater drop in construction starts in the suburbs of Montreal (-45%) than in the cities on the island of Montreal (26%).
Trois-Rivières and Saguenay in opposite directions
The scenario is similar in most large metropolitan areas (100,000 inhabitants and more) in other regions of the province, with an average annual decline of 33%.
More precisely, we are talking about -40% for Quebec, -33% for Drummondville, -31% for Gatineau, and -21% for Sherbrooke.
Things look different for Trois-Rivières and Saguenay, with respective increases of 14% and 49% compared to 2022.