Manitoba housing starts up about 40 per cent this year, CMHC economist says

Houses are pictured under construction in Winnipeg, Man., in an undated image. Manitoba housing starts are up about 40 per cent so far this year, according to an economist with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. (CTV News Winnipeg)

Manitoba housing starts are up about 40 per cent so far this year, even after a dip in June, as townhome and apartment construction surge across the province, according to an economist with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

CMHC defines a housing start as the beginning of construction work on a building — typically when the concrete has been poured for the footing around the whole structure, or an equivalent stage in cases where the building won’t have a basement.

New federal data released last week show the number of approved housing units in Manitoba still awaiting a construction start fell 12.6 per cent from May to June, dropping to 3,647 units. In Winnipeg specifically, that figure fell 14 per cent, to 3,513 units.

Units under construction across the province also dipped, down 3.1 per cent month-over-month to 9,350, while Winnipeg’s under-construction count slipped 3.2 per cent to 8,947 units.

Completions, meanwhile, jumped sharply. Manitoba recorded 1,157 completed units in June, more than five times the 200 completed in May. Winnipeg drove most of that jump, with 1,154 completions compared to just 195 the month before.

Taylor Pardy, lead economist for the Prairies with CMHC, a federal Crown corporation, cautioned against reading too much into the June slowdown.

“One month doesn’t necessarily make a trend,” Pardy said, adding that year-to-date figures offer a clearer picture of the market.

Looking at the first six months of 2026 compared with the same period last year, Pardy said Manitoba has recorded roughly a 40 per cent increase in overall housing starts, driven largely by gains in semi-detached homes, townhomes and apartment construction.

Pardy pointed to particularly strong growth in more affordable, ground-oriented housing types, adding that townhome housing starts are up 236 per cent so far this year.

Apartment construction has also seen “another really strong year,” Pardy said, noting apartment rentals are up about 73 per cent.

Pardy linked some of that growth to zoning changes the City of Winnipeg introduced last June, which Pardy said made it somewhat easier to build higher-density housing such as townhomes and apartments.

Pardy said CMHC is not currently forecasting a slowdown in construction activity.

The agency’s baseline forecast projected a slight increase in housing starts this year compared with 2025, and Pardy said activity so far has outpaced that projection.

“Our anticipation is that the housing market will continue to be fairly steady by the end of this year,” Pardy said, noting resale activity remains above the three-year average.

The figures were part of CMHC’s national housing starts report for June, which also showed the national trend measure — a six-month moving average — fell 2.8 per cent from May to 248,123 units.

Monthly starts in centres with populations of 10,000 or more were down 13 per cent year-over-year nationally, though results varied widely by city, with Toronto and Montreal posting gains while Vancouver saw a sharp decline.

With files from CTV’s Devon McKendrick