Canada Housing Starts Edge Down 0.1% in August

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--Canadian housing starts were little changed last month as building moderates in the country, adding to signs the property market is stalling.

Housing starts across Canada came in at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate in August of 229,046 units, a 0.1% dip from the month before, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Wednesday. The market was expecting about 240,000 residential housing projects to have started during the month, following a 5.6% drop in June, according to economists at TD Securities.

The trend measure--a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts--declined 1.3% to 244,149 units in August, Canada's national housing agency said.

Actual starts in centers with a population of 10,000 or more fell 2.3% compared with a year earlier to 17,691 housing units, taking the year-to-date total to 149,542, a drop of about 4% compared with the same period last year.

Kevin Hughes, deputy chief economist at the housing agency, said the current pace of starts is elevated compared with recent years, but that the downward trend of late is expected to continue as construction activity moderates in the coming months, especially toward the end of the year.

In August, modest gains in Quebec and Alberta offset declines in other provinces, most notably in Ontario, Hughes said.

The number of units under construction in city centers with a population of 50,000 or more in August declined 0.4% to 371,658 units compared with a month prior. Completions decreased, with construction finishing on 17,550 units, down 11.2% from July. But the number of units with approved building permits, but which haven't yet started, increased 0.7% to 142,423 units in August.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has forecast that housing starts in the country need to rise to between 417,000 and 469,000 a year in order to restore affordability to prepandemic levels by 2036, a target that is at risk as new-home construction has slowed. It projects the country continues to face a longer-term housing-supply gap of 187,000 to 238,000 homes annually over the next decade.

Uncertainty among consumers threatens to stall what had been a recovery in the housing market in recent months, after bond yields rose and as investors consider the possible need for the central bank to lift interest rates if energy prices remain elevated.

National sales of existing homes dipped 0.7% during August and, in non-seasonally adjusted terms, the figure dropped 6.9% from a year earlier, data released Tuesday by the Canadian Real Estate Association showed. There was a 3.3% rise in new listings for the month after three straight declines, while home prices calculated in a similar fashion to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller National Home Price Index were unchanged month over month.

"Although it is not uncommon for the market to take a breather after several months of gains, we do not believe that the decline in sales in August reflects a temporary blip, but rather a slowdown caused by the uncertainty that intensified during the month due to the trade dispute with the U.S.," said Daren King, an economist at National Bank of Canada.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 16, 2026 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)