Canadian housing starts posted a record-setting surge in April, with new data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showing a 30 percent increase from the previous month. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts reached 278,606 units, surpassing economists’ expectations and marking the highest actual April total on record.
The six-month trend measure, which smooths out monthly volatility, also advanced 2.4 percent to 240,905 units. This uptick reflects sustained momentum in the new home construction sector, even as broader economic uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook.
April’s robust performance was primarily driven by increased activity across all housing types in Quebec and the Prairie provinces. In contrast, Ontario and British Columbia saw year-over-year declines in housing starts for a second consecutive month.
“The increased starts activity in April was driven by increases across all housing types in Québec and the Prairie provinces, while starts in Ontario and British Columbia declined on a year-over-year basis again this month,” said Kevin Hughes, Deputy Chief Economist at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Hughes cautioned that “the current economic uncertainty will have consequences for the supply and demand of new housing,” adding that the agency will monitor these effects closely in the months ahead.
Among Canada’s largest cities, Montreal led with a 64 percent year-over-year increase in actual housing starts, driven largely by multi-unit developments. Vancouver also saw a 6 percent rise, while Toronto recorded a 25 percent decline, attributed to fewer multi-unit projects.
Year-to-date, actual housing starts in centres with populations above 10,000 reached 67,022 units, a slight 2 percent decrease from the same period in 2024, despite April’s record-breaking monthly tally. The rural housing starts estimate stood at 18,818 units for the month.
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