AI Analysis: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts in all centres 10,000 and over, Canada, provinces, and census metropolitan areas, seasonally adjusted at annual rates, monthly

Executive Summary

Canada's housing starts have undergone dramatic cycles over 36 years (1990–2026), surging to an all-time high of 290,954 units in March 2021 before settling at a still-elevated 265,623 units as of April 2026 — roughly 54% above the long-run average of 173,000 units per year. Multi-unit construction (apartments, condos, and row housing) has increasingly driven national totals, particularly post-2015, while a handful of major metropolitan areas like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal dominate overall activity. The data reveals a highly skewed housing market where the median value across all geographies is near zero, underscoring how concentrated construction activity is in a small number of large urban centres.

Key Findings

• Canada's housing starts peaked at an all-time high of 290,954 units (SAAR) in March 2021, driven by the post-COVID construction boom, while the historic low of 75,103 units occurred in January 1996 during the prolonged 1990s housing slump.
• As of April 2026, national housing starts remain at 265,623 units — approximately 54% above the 36-year long-run average of 173,000 units per year.
• Multiples (apartments, condos, and row housing) have the highest average starts at 17,660 units and reach up to 230,260 units, reflecting the growing dominance of multi-unit construction in Canada's major cities.
• 17 months over the full dataset were flagged as statistical outliers (|z-score| > 2), with the most extreme negative outlier occurring in March 2014 (z = -2.78) and multiple high outliers clustered in the 2020–2021 period.
• Across all six unit types, the mean far exceeds the median — for example, Total units average 12,250 but have a median of just 900 — confirming that a small number of large metropolitan areas account for the vast majority of national housing starts.
• Single-detached housing starts average 11,130 units with a maximum of 144,500 units, showing significant regional variation, while semi-detached and row units remain the smallest categories with means of 1,890 and 3,290 units respectively.
• The dataset covers 47 unique geographies and 118 data series, with larger provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia consistently ranking at the top for average housing starts over the full 1990–2026 history.