Canada Housing Starts

Last Release

Mar 31, 2025

Actual

214.2

Units In

Thousand units

221.4

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

May 15, 2025

Time to Release

28 Days 15 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
333.28 Mar 2021	90.7 Aug 1982	192.95 Thousand units	1977-2025	Canada Mortgage And Housing Corporation

In Canada, a housing start is defined as the beginning of construction work on the building where the dwelling unit will be located. This can be described in 2 ways: usually, the stage when the concrete has been poured for the whole of the footing around the structure; or an equivalent stage where a basement will not be part of the structure.

Latest Updates

Canadian housing starts declined 3.3% month-over-month to 214,155 units in March 2025, compared to 221,405 units in February and below market expectations of 242,500. Urban housing starts in centres with populations of 10,000 or more were 2.8% lower to 203,285 units, compared to 209,093 units in February. Meanwhile, rural housing starts remained flat at 10,870 units. On an annual basis, actual housing starts in urban centres fell 12.5% to 14,924 units recorded in March 2025, compared to 17,052 a year earlier. Among Canada’s three largest cities, Vancouver saw a steep 59% decline while Toronto saw a 65% drop since March 2024, both driven by lower multi-unit and single-family starts. In contrast, Montreal saw a 138% year-over-year increase with increases in multi-unit construction starts.