Housing starts count new homes whose construction has begun, and CMHC publishes them every month. This page shows CMHC’s most recent release, for August 2026 (published September 16, 2026), with the provincial and city breakdowns and the annual totals. How the pace of building compares with what Canada needs is covered in Canada’s housing shortage.
Canada housing starts: August 2026
The six-month trend in housing starts was 244,149 units in August 2026, a change of −1.3% from 247,446 in July 2026. The trend is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of starts in all areas of Canada. The monthly SAAR on its own was 229,046 units, against 229,360 in July 2026.
Counted directly rather than as an annual rate, centres of 10,000 people or more recorded 17,691 starts in August 2026, against 18,112 in August 2025. Their year-to-date total was 149,542, a change of −4% on the same months a year earlier.
| Measure, August 2026 | Units | Compared with | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six-month trend (SAAR, all areas) | 244,149 | 247,446 in July 2026 | −1.3% |
| Monthly SAAR (all areas) | 229,046 | 229,360 in July 2026 | −0.1% |
| Rural starts (SAAR) | 11,224 | ||
| Actual starts, centres of 10,000+ | 17,691 | 18,112 in August 2025 | −2% |
| Year to date, centres of 10,000+ | 149,542 | 155,658 a year earlier | −4% |
| Units under construction, centres of 50,000+ | 371,658 | 373,091 in July 2026 | −0.4% |
| Completions, centres of 50,000+ | 17,550 | 19,773 in July 2026 | −11.2% |
| Approved permits not yet started, centres of 50,000+ | 142,423 | 141,480 in July 2026 | +0.7% |
Approved permits not yet started are units with a building permit where no construction has been observed yet; CMHC notes they may point to future starts.
Why CMHC reports both a trend and a SAAR
A single month’s SAAR can swing widely, because a few large apartment buildings starting in the same month move the total. CMHC publishes the six-month trend alongside it for that reason: in its words, analyzing only SAAR data “can be misleading, as the multi-unit segment largely drives the market and can vary significantly from one month to the next.” The trend is the steadier read on where construction is heading; the SAAR shows the latest month.
Housing starts by province
CMHC’s monthly release breaks provinces out for centres of 10,000 people or more (smaller centres and rural areas are only in the national total). The table shows each province’s six-month trend in August 2026 and July 2026, and its actual starts so far this year (to August 2026) against the same months a year earlier. Provinces are listed west to east.
| Province | Trend, August 2026 | Trend, July 2026 | Year to date | Same months a year earlier | Year-to-date change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 36,622 | 37,039 | 25,876 | 28,664 | −10% |
| Alberta | 46,596 | 45,116 | 30,557 | 36,177 | −16% |
| Saskatchewan | 6,725 | 6,319 | 3,946 | 3,574 | +10% |
| Manitoba | 8,210 | 8,943 | 5,176 | 4,281 | +21% |
| Ontario | 58,933 | 63,370 | 39,823 | 38,646 | +3% |
| Quebec | 61,346 | 60,787 | 35,030 | 33,181 | +6% |
| New Brunswick | 4,924 | 4,653 | 3,106 | 3,473 | −11% |
| Nova Scotia | 6,361 | 6,486 | 4,163 | 5,983 | −30% |
| Prince Edward Island | 1,474 | 1,637 | 991 | 1,004 | −1% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 1,379 | 1,364 | 874 | 675 | +29% |
| Canada, centres of 10,000+ | 232,571 | 235,715 | 149,542 | 155,658 | −4% |
The trend columns are annual rates and the year-to-date columns are actual units, so the two can’t be compared directly.
Ontario
Ontario’s six-month trend moved −7.0% from July 2026 to August 2026, to 58,933 units. Over a full year, its urban starts were 62,561 in 2025 against 72,118 in 2024, a change of −13%. The Toronto CMA accounts for a large part of the provincial total: its 15,957 year-to-date starts were 40% of Ontario’s 39,823. Toronto’s detail by dwelling type, its units under construction and its completions are on the Toronto housing starts page.
Housing starts by city (CMA)
CMHC reports starts for each census metropolitan area (CMA). The table shows ten large CMAs, in alphabetical order, for August 2026.
| City (CMA) | Trend, August 2026 | Trend, July 2026 | Year to date | Same months a year earlier | Year-to-date change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary | 23,298 | 21,695 | 15,077 | 18,632 | −19% |
| Edmonton | 19,712 | 19,473 | 12,654 | 14,701 | −14% |
| Halifax | 4,721 | 4,747 | 3,060 | 4,966 | −38% |
| Hamilton | 1,019 | 1,930 | 1,181 | 2,038 | −42% |
| Montréal | 30,492 | 28,717 | 17,762 | 16,721 | +6% |
| Ottawa–Gatineau | 14,583 | 14,864 | 9,217 | 8,416 | +10% |
| Québec | 9,801 | 9,920 | 5,945 | 5,914 | +1% |
| Toronto | 25,131 | 25,112 | 15,957 | 16,451 | −3% |
| Vancouver | 24,523 | 23,205 | 17,298 | 18,405 | −6% |
| Winnipeg | 7,359 | 7,987 | 4,575 | 3,709 | +23% |
A city’s trend and its year-to-date total can point in different directions: the trend reflects the last six months at an annual rate, while the year-to-date figure adds up every start since January. Resale prices and sales in the same cities are covered under the housing market by city.
Annual housing starts
CMHC publishes each year’s total in its January release. Starts in all areas of Canada were 259,028 in 2025, against 245,367 in 2024 (a change of +5.6%), and CMHC described the 2025 total as the fifth highest annual total on record. In the same release, CMHC’s chief economist said economic uncertainty and “the diminished viability of large residential towers encouraged a shift towards smaller-scale projects” during 2025.
| Year | All areas of Canada | Centres of 10,000+ |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 223,513 | |
| 2024 | 245,367 | 227,697 |
| 2025 | 259,028 | 241,171 |
CMHC revises past months as late reports come in, so a year’s total in a later release can differ slightly from the first one published.
Starts and the housing shortage
CMHC’s Fall 2026 Housing Supply Report estimates that Canada needs 417,000 to 469,000 starts a year to bring affordability back to its 2019 level by 2036, against about 231,000 a year if current trends continue. The size of that supply gap by city, and why construction can’t simply speed up, are covered in Canada’s housing shortage.
Glossary
These definitions follow CMHC’s Starts and Completions Survey methodology.
- Housing start: the beginning of construction work on a building, usually when the concrete has been poured for the whole footing around the structure (or an equivalent stage when the building has no basement).
- Under construction: units started but not yet completed at the end of the period, adjusted for projects that stop or end up with a different number of units.
- Completion: the stage at which all the proposed construction work on a unit has been done; CMHC can count a unit as complete when a small share of the work remains.
- SAAR (seasonally adjusted annual rate): a month’s starts adjusted for the usual seasonal pattern and expressed as the annual total that would result if activity stayed at that level all year.
- Trend: CMHC’s six-month moving average of the SAAR, used to smooth month-to-month swings.
- Centres of 10,000+: urban areas of 10,000 people or more. CMHC surveys centres of 50,000 or more every month and counts starts in smaller urban centres in the last month of each quarter, estimating the months in between. The monthly under-construction and completion counts cover centres of 50,000 or more.
- Dwelling types: a single-detached home is a building with one unit, separated on all sides from any other structure; a semi-detached unit is one of two side by side; a row (townhouse) unit is one of three or more attached side by side; “apartment and other” covers everything else, including stacked townhouses, duplexes and triplexes. CMHC’s monthly release groups everything except single-detached homes as “all others”.
Related pages
- Toronto housing starts: Toronto CMA starts by dwelling type, under construction and completions
- Canada’s housing shortage: how many homes Canada needs and why construction falls short
- The housing crisis explained: its causes and the policy response
- More housing market analysis: affordability, prices, debt and who buys
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on October 6, 2026. How we check facts.