The construction of new homes in Canada is starting to surge again.
Based on a recent update by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), housing starts were up month-over-month in June, with a total of 199,655 reported across the country.
This is up from 197,063 units in May 2020.
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According to CMHC, this reflects higher multi-family starts in Toronto and Montreal following declines in these centres in recent months from COVID-19 measures. What's more, new home builds continued to decline in most other centres in June, including Vancouver.
"We expect national starts to trend lower in the near term as a result of the negative impact of COVID-19 on economic and housing indicators," said CMHC.
CMHC also released an update on the Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of housing starts, which allows you to compare monthly levels to annual levels for different months of the year, while also giving you a sense of the relative strength of monthly activity.
In June, the standalone monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was 211,681 units, an increase of 8.3% from 195,453 units in May. What's more, the SAAR of urban starts increased by 8.7% in June to 196,675 units.
Multiple urban starts increased by 13.0% to 154,602 units in June while single-detached urban starts decreased by 4.5% to 42,073 units.
As for Toronto, there were 652 new single-detached housing starts in June, up 17% year-over-year. Last month, there was also 2,818 new starts for all other home-types, a 15% increase from the same time last year.
