Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, all areas, Canada and provinces, 6-month moving average — AI AnalysisCanada's housing starts (6-month moving average) have cycled through multiple booms and busts over 35+ years, reaching an all-time peak of 285,210 units in June 2021 before settling at a still-elevated 256,005 units as of February 2026 — approximately 31% above the long-term average of 194,686 unitsKey Findings

Canada's housing starts peaked at 285,210 units in June 2021, driven by a post-COVID construction surge, and hit their lowest point of 106,153 units in August 1995 during the prolonged mid-1990s recession.

The most recent reading of 256,005 units (February 2026) sits approximately 31% above the long-term national average of 194,686 units, signaling sustained above-average construction activity.

Ontario leads all individual provinces with a mean of 68,469 units, followed by Quebec (42,587), Prairie provinces (39,236), British Columbia (33,181), and Alberta (30,139) over the full 1990–2026 period.

Prince Edward Island records the smallest average housing starts at just 818 units with a narrow range of only 1,598 units, highlighting the vast disparity between Canada's largest and smallest provincial housing markets.

The overall dataset is heavily right-skewed — the mean of 33,833 units is more than three times the median of 10,929 units — due to large national and major provincial aggregates pulling the distribution upward.

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