Canadian Housing Starts Surged To A Record High

Summary

• Housing starts skyrocketed 21.6% month over month (m/m) in March after the 11.7% m/m decrease in the previous month.
• Urban multifamily starts soared 33.8% m/m to an all-time high while single starts jumped 3.6% m/m, reaching the highest level since April 2010. Rural starts increased 2.0% m/m.
• The overall gain was largely concentrated in Ontario (up 45.0% m/m) and British Columbia (up 57.4% m/m) as starts in both provinces hit a record high.
• Previous months' housing starts were revised up in February (up by 29,645 units to 275,567 units) and January (up by 27,857 units to 312,229 units), led by the strong revision in rural starts.
• Stronger-than-expected homebuilding activities in the first quarter support our forecast that real business investment in residential structures will contribute the most to first-quarter real GDP growth.

Photo by Bim/E+ via Getty Images

Other than strong increases in Ontario and British Columbia, starts increased solidly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Meanwhile, starts in Quebec and Manitoba declined for the second consecutive month following the surge in January. After two months