OTTAWA – Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts rose 4.5 per cent in February.
The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 250,900 units in February compared with 240,148 units in January.
Actual housing starts were up 10 per cent year-over-year in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater.
Some 15,886 unit starts in those centres were recorded in February, compared with 14,420 a year ago.
The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was down 0.4 per cent in February at 256,005 units.
CMHC deputy chief economist Kevin Hughes says the agency expects heightened levels of business uncertainty and construction costs to weigh on housing starts in the near future.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2026.
