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August 16, 2023HOUSING STARTS, JULY 2023 Monthly (July 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 5,781 units in July 2023. This was down 58.2% from the revised estimate of 13,840 units in June 2023.
Housing starts in Halifax dropped to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3,234 units in July 2023, down 71.5% from 11,366 units in June 2023.
Outside of Halifax, housing starts increased to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,547 units, up 3.0% from 2,474 units in June 2023.
Across Canada, housing starts dropped to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 254,966 units in July 2023, down 10.1% from 283,498 units in June 2023.
Housing starts were up in 6 of 10 provinces last month, with the largest percentage increase in Prince Edward Island and the largest percentage decrease in Nova Scotia.
Year-over-year (July 2023 vs July 2022)
Nova Scotia's housing starts were down 38.5% compared with July 2022. Halifax starts were 44.2% down their level from July 2022 and starts outside the city were down 29.2% compared to the same month last year. Across Canada, housing starts were down 8.1% year-over-year in July with declines in five provinces with the largest declines in Quebec and Nova Scotia. The largest increase was observed in Saskatchewan.
In unadjusted, non-annualized monthly data, there were 285 housing starts in Halifax - the lowest housing starts for July in the Halifax market since 2019.
Halifax monthly housing completions (unadjusted, non-annualized) in July were 138 - the lowest completions for this month since July 2021.
The number of units under construction in the Halifax market has fallen over the last year to 7,548 as of July 2023.
Year-to-date (January-July 2023 vs January-July 2022)
Monthly and year-over-year changes in housing starts exhibit considerable volatility. Longer year-to-date averages offer a more stable picture of how Nova Scotia's housing market is evolving.
During the first seven months of 2023, Nova Scotia’s housing starts were down 5.2% compared to the same period in 2022. Halifax housing starts decreased 15.8% and starts outside the city were up 17.2%. Across Canada, housing starts were down 8.1% in January-July 2023 with declines in 8 of 10 provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest percentage drop in housing starts while British Columbia reported the largest percentage gain.
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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