Canada Housing Starts Trend Down 1.3% | Professional Real Estate Agent Since 1978

As someone who’s spent over four decades navigating Calgary’s real estate market, I’m always watching the bigger housing trends and how they might impact our local scene. The latest figures show Canada’s 6-month housing starts trend dipped by about 1% month-over-month in mid-Q3, settling around 244,000 annualized units. The monthly pace held steady near 229,000. In our larger cities, actual starts reached 17,700 in mid-Q3, which is about 2% below last year, bringing the total for the first eight months of this year to 149,500—down about 4%. Even so, homes under construction in centers over 50,000 people only nudged down less than 1% to 371,700 units. There’s still a substantial pipeline, but completions dropped more sharply, down 11% month-over-month to 17,600 units, while new permits not yet started inched up under 1% to 142,400. The national outlook points to housing starts staying higher than we’ve seen in recent years, though the trend is expected to ease as we head toward year-end. I’ll be keeping an eye on how these shifts shape opportunities for buyers and sellers in Calgary, and I look forward to sharing what I learn along the way.