Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer
National housing starts were up 5.6 per cent in 2025 compared to 2024, the fifth highest annual total on record, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The increase was driven by a second consecutive year of record rental housing starts which made up just over half of all starts in Canada’s urban centres.
Starts for all areas reached 259,028 versus 245,367 in 2024, the CMHC said in a release. Starts in centres of at least 10,000 people were up 6 per cent to 241,171 units, compared to 227,697 in 2024.
Canada’s six largest census metropolitan areas saw a combined 3.9 per cent year-over-year increase from 2024 on record starts in Calgary and Edmonton, a 58 per cent year-over-year increase in in Montréal, and a 12 per cent increase in Ottawa-Gatineau. Toronto saw a 31 per cent annual decrease while starts in Vancouver fell 3 per cent.
The six-month trend in housing starts was flat at minus 1 per cent in December (264,428 units). The trend measure is a six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts for all areas in Canada.
The total monthly SAAR of housing starts for all areas in Canada was up 11 per cent in December (282,439 units) compared to November (254,625 units).
Actual housing starts increased 25 per cent year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or more, with 20,716 units recorded in December, compared to 16,531 units in December 2024.
This marks the most actual housing starts for December on record, primarily driven by increases in Ontario, which had its highest monthly starts total of 2025. An actual start is recorded when the concrete footing for the foundation is poured, or, if there is no basement, when its equivalent stage is reached.
“While housing starts in 2025 finished ahead of 2024 and inched up in December, most of the momentum in housing construction occurred in the spring and summer,” CMHC chief economist Mathieu Laberge said in the release.
“Since September, the trend in housing starts has consistently decreased. In 2025, economic uncertainty and the diminished viability of large residential towers encouraged a shift towards smaller-scale projects.”
He said housing starts are beginning this year from a weaker position and market intelligence suggests slowing momentum for residential construction.
