How the Canadian Housing Market Kicked Off the Year

The annual pace of housing starts – new housing construction projects – slowed, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), but dropped less than what was expected for the beginning of the year. 

The yearly pace of urban starts slowed by 2.1% to 190,912 units as single-detached urban starts slumped by 10.4% to 44,559 units. The yearly pace of multiple-unit projects such as condos, apartments, and townhouses, actually, increased by 0.7% to 146,353 units.  

Moreover, The home prices increased in Quebec City ( by 1.3%), Halifax ( by 0.7%), Montreal (by 0.2%), Toronto (by 0.1%) and Winnipeg (0.1%). While Home prices decreased in western Canada’s three major housing markets with Edmonton declining by 0.8% and Calgary declining by 0.5%.  

Nevertheless, CREA stated that the sales-to-new-listings proportion declined across most parts of Canada last month.  Whereas in eastern Canadian real estate marketplaces, it presented yearly progresses. Montreal showed the biggest improvement with an SNR of 70.1%, up by 6.6% from the previous year. Ottawa arose in second at 70.2%, up by 5.3%. Quebec City rose to 52.6%, up by 0.8%. These three marketplaces outpaced the national average of 54.3%, down by 4.3% from the past year.