OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in October fell 17 per cent compared with September.
The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 232,765 units in October, down from 279,174 in September.
Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC’s deputy chief economist, says the drop came as the number of starts in Ontario and British Columbia fell in October.
However, she noted that higher starts in markets like Montreal, Calgary, and Edmonton helped keep the national year-to-date total elevated compared with the same period last year.
Actual housing starts in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater totalled 19,174 units in October, compared with 19,763 in October 2024, while the year-to-date total for centres with a population of 10,000 or greater was 197,207, up from 188,660 in the same period in 2024.
The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts was 268,907 in October, down from 277,081 in September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2025.
The Canadian Press
