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January 18, 2023HOUSING STARTS, DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2022 Monthly (December 2022, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 5,511 units in December 2022, up from the revised estimate of 4,793 units in November 2022. Housing starts in Halifax rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,981 units in December 2022, up from 2,351 in November. Outside of Halifax, housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,530 units, up marginally from 2,442 units in November.
Across Canada, housing starts slowed to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 248,625 units in December, down from 263,022 units in November. Housing starts were down in 6 of 10 provinces last month, with the largest percentage decline in New Brunswick and the largest percentage gain in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Annual (2022 vs 2021)
Overall in 2022, there were 5,714 housing starts in Nova Scotia, down 4.4% from the 5,975 starts reported in 2021. Across Canada, housing starts were down 3.4% in 2022 with gains in 6 of 10 provinces. Quebec reported the largest percentage drop in housing starts in 2022 while Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest percentage gain.
Despite Nova Scotia's 4.4% decline in housing starts in 2022, this was still the second strongest year since the late 1980s (only 2021 recorded more housing starts).
The majority of Nova Scotia's housing starts in 2022 were in multiple-unit buildings (3,465), while there were 2,249 single detached dwelling unit starts. The decline in Nova Scotia's housing starts from 2021 was concentrated in multiple-unit starts as single-detached unit starts were little changed.
Quarterly (Q4 2022, unadjusted)
Nova Scotia's unadjusted housing starts amounted to 1,255 in Q4 2022, down from 2,356 in Q4 of 2021.
There were 646 single-detached unit starts in Nova Scotia in Q4 2022, down from 776 in Q4 2021.
Nova Scotia's multiple unit starts were down from 1,580 in Q4 2021 to 609 in Q4 2022.
Over the past several years, Nova Scotia's housing starts have substantially outpaced completions, leading to a large increase in the number of units under construction. In the last quarter of 2022, completions outpaced starts for the first time since 2020, resulting in a decline in the number of units under construction comparing Q3 2022 (9,003 units under construction) with Q4 2022 (8,392 units under construction).
Source: Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0135-01 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, under construction and completions, all areas, quarterly; 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 34-10-0126-01 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, under construction and completions, all areas, annual; Table 34-10-0135-01 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts, under construction and completions, all areas, quarterly
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