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October 17, 2025HOUSING STARTS, SEPTEMBER 2025 Monthly (September 2025 vs August 2025, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 6,551 units in September 2025. This was a 14.5% decline from the previous month's revised value of 7,663 starts. July housing starts were the highest in the monthly records that date back to 1990.
Housing starts in Halifax fell to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4,332 units in September 2025. This was a 19.7% decline from 5,396 units in August 2025.
Outside of Halifax, housing starts declined to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,219 units in September 2025, down 2.1% from 2,267 units in August 2025.
Across Canada, housing starts rebounded to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 279,234 units in September 2025, up 14.2% from 244,543 units reported in August 2025.
Housing starts were down in the Maritime Provinces and British Columbia in September 2025, with the fastest percentage declines in Prince Edward Island. Saskatchewan reported the fastest monthly increase in housing starts. Note: monthly changes in seasonally adjusted annualized housing starts are often volatile.
Year-over-year (September 2025 vs September 2024, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia's housing starts were up 45.4% compared with the 4,505 unit pace set in September 2024. Halifax housing starts were up 66.4% from their rate in September 2024 (2,604). Housing starts outside the city were up 16.7% year-over-year from their pace in September 2024 (1,901). Across Canada, housing starts were up 24.6% year-over-year in September 2025 with gains all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick and British Columbia. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba reported the fastest year-over-year gains.
In unadjusted results for Halifax in September 2025, there were 375 housing starts and 278 completions. The stock of units under construction rose to 12,930 units in Halifax from the previous month, up 22.8% from units under construction in the same month last year (10,532).
Year-to-date (January-September 2024 vs January-September 2025)
Nova Scotia housing starts rose 22.2% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period a year ago. Halifax housing starts have increased 24.4% in January-September 2025 compared to the same period a year ago, while housing starts in the rest of Nova Scotia rose 16.9%. Nationally, housing starts grew 6.1% in the first nine months of 2025, with gains in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario and British Columbia. Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island posted the largest gains while Ontario posted the fastest decline.
Quarterly (Q3 2025 vs Q3 2024)
There were a total 2,840 housing starts in Nova Scotia in Q3 2025 - the strongest quarterly pace since 1986. This was almost double (+99.2%) from 1,426 in Q3 of 2024.
Starts for single detached dwellings rose 9.2% from 630 units in Q3 2024 to 688 units in Q3 2025.
Starts for multiple dwelling units also grew 170.4% from 796 in Q3 2024 to 2,152 starts in Q3 2025.
Source: Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0158-01 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, all areas, Canada and provinces, seasonally adjusted at annual rates, monthly (x 1,000) ; Table 34-10-0156-01 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts in all centres 10,000 and over, Canada, provinces, and census metropolitan areas, seasonally adjusted at annual rates, monthly (x 1,000); Table 34-10-0135-01 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, under construction and completions, all areas, quarterly
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