CMHC reports annual rate of housing starts slowed in March

New homes are constructed in Ottawa on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in March fell six per cent compared with February.

The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate came in at 235,852 units for March compared with 250,961 in February.

The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate came in at 248,378 units for March, down from 255,874 a month earlier.

CMHC chief economist Mathieu Laberge says the March data points to a continued loss of momentum in housing construction, broadly in line with the agency’s housing market outlook.

Actual housing starts in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater totalled 16,398 units in March, up from 14,935 in March 2025.

Rural starts for March were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 11,846 units.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2026.