Canadian Housing Starts Collapse As Ontario Falls To 2009 Levels
Canada’s politicians spent billions in taxpayer resources to stimulate new homebuilding, and the exact opposite is happening. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data shows a sharp decline in housing starts for March. The problem is easy to attribute to tariffs, but it wouldn’t make sense in this context—especially as provinces like Alberta continue to hit near-record levels of housing starts. The decline is primarily due to a collapse in Ontario, where weak demand has led to the fewest new housing starts since the 2009 Global Financial Crisis.
Canadian Housing Starts Are Grinding Lower As Ontario Real Estate Demand Collapses
Despite politicians across the country taking credit for boosting housing, new housing has plunged. The seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of housing starts fell to 214.2k units in March, a decline of 3.3% from a month before, extending the slowing trend that began in November. The problem is seriously amplified in Ontario.
“Most notable is the crumbling of activity in Ontario, where starts fell to 39k annualized in March, just about matching levels last seen during the depths of the 2009 recession,” warns Robert Kavcic, senior economist at BMO. …[Continue Reading]