There was an increase in housing starts across Canada last year compared to 2023.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released its latest figures on Thursday.
Housing starts reached more than 245,000 in 2024, up two per cent year over year.
That includes 227,697 units in centres of 10,000 population and over, along with an estimated 17,423 in rural areas.
CMHC said this was primarily due to historically high rental construction levels and overall increased starts in Alberta, Québec, and the Atlantic provinces.
“While this annual increase shows some signs of progress, Canada still needs significantly higher supply growth to restore affordability in urban centres,” Mathieu Laberge, CMHC’s chief economist and senior vice-president of market insights, said in the release.
CMHC estimated last spring that Canada could build up to 400,000 new housing units annually, based on current resources devoted to residential construction.
Meanwhile, Canada’s six largest census metropolitan areas saw a combined three per cent decrease in housing starts year over year in 2024.
Officials said it was driven by lower starts levels in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa, where multi-unit starts fell due to weak pre-construction condominium sales.
Calgary, Edmonton and Montréal saw higher starts activity in 2024, particularly in the multi-unit segment, which CMHC noted was driven by high rental starts.
