Canadian Housing Starts (February 2026)

Housing starts manage modest bounce-back in February

• Canadian housing starts increased to 250.9k annualized units in February, up 4.5% month-on-month (m/m). This marked a slight bounce-back from January's 14% m/m decline. Meanwhile, the six-month moving average of starts increased 0.4% m/m to 256.0k units in February.
• February's increase was concentrated in the multi-family sector, with urban starts up 8% m/m to 192.3k units. Urban single-detached starts were down 8% m/m to 38.2k units.
• Urban starts were up in 5 of 10 provinces:
  • Starts surged in Quebec (+14.7k to 55.1k units) and were also higher in the Prairies (+4.3k to 56.3k units), driven by Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Starts were also up in Nova Scotia and PEI but declines elsewhere held down activity overall in the Atlantic. 
  • Starts tumbled in B.C. (-8.7k to 42.7k units) and were flat at a low level in Ontario (63.7k units).

Key Implications

• As expected, housing starts increased last month after January's weather impacted print. However, the bounce-back was tepid. So far in the first quarter, starts are down about 4% (not annualized) compared to their Q4 level, boosting the risk that starts act as a drag on residential investment in Q1 GDP growth.
• On a trend basis, starts have been generally cooling since September of last year. We think the pace of starts will continue to ease, impacted by weak population growth, high costs, elevated levels of unsold inventories, and very weak pre-sales activity in key markets like the GTA. January's decline in the number of residential permits issued is consistent with this view.     

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