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May 15, 2024HOUSING STARTS, APRIL 2024 Monthly (April 2024 vs March 2024, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 7,898 units in April 2024. This was a 7.6% decline from the previous month. March 2024 housing starts in Nova Scotia were revised to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 8,544 units.
Housing starts in Halifax decreased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5,948 units in April 2024, down 6.8% from 6,380 units in March 2024.
Outside of Halifax, housing starts contracted to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1,950 units in April 2024, down 9.9% from 2,164 units in March 2024.
Across Canada, housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 240,229 units in April 2024, down 0.8% from 242,267 units in March 2024.
Housing starts were up in 6 of 10 provinces last month, with the largest percentage increase in New Brunswick (+63.0%). The largest percentage decline was in Prince Edward Island (-52.5%). Monthly housing starts can be volatile; in March, New Brunswick reported the largest monthly decline while Prince Edward Island reported the fastest monthly gain.
Year-over-year (April 2024 vs April 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia's housing starts were up 63.0% compared with April 2023. Halifax housing starts were 123.1% above their level from April 2023. Housing starts outside the city were down 10.5% year-over-year. Across Canada, housing starts were down 8.0% year-over-year in April despite gains in 5 provinces. Manitoba reported the largest increase in housing starts, though there were substantial increases in the other prairie provinces as well as in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island reported the steepest drop in housing starts.
In unadjusted results for Halifax in April 2024, there were 493 housing starts and 50 completions. With starts outpacing completions again, the stock of units under construction rose to 10,327 units in Halifax, up 49.9% from the same month last year.
Year-to-date (January-April 2024 vs January-April 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Over the first four months of 2024, Nova Scotia's housing starts were up 111.6% compared with the same period in 2023. Halifax starts were up 217.8% while starts outside the city increased by 3.0%. Across Canada, year-to-date housing starts were up 5.2% with gains in 5 provinces. Nova Scotia reported the fastest percentage increase in year-to-date housing starts while Ontario reported the steepest decline.
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)
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