OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reports the annual pace of housing starts for August edged lower compared with July. The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts came in at 229,046 units for August, down from 229,360 in July. The result came as actual monthly housing starts in centres with a population of 10,000 or more totalled 17,691 in August, down from 18,112 units in August 2025. The annual pace of rural starts was estimated at 11,224 units. The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts for all areas in Canada was 244,149 in August, down 1.3 per cent from July. CMHC deputy chief economist Kevin Hughes says housing starts continued to trend slightly down in August, as modest gains in Quebec and Alberta only partially offset the decline in other provinces, most notably, Ontario. --- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2026.
