Housing shortage remains a problem according to CMHC

May 13, 2022

A shortage of housing supply has been the predominant issue impacting housing affordability, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
This issue was the key finding in the national housing agency’s inaugural Housing Supply Report released March 1.
But even as the report, which tallied 2021 residential starts was released, March 2022 housing starts showed further declines.
“The biggest issue affecting housing affordability in Canada is that supply simply isn’t keeping pace with demand,” the report noted.
CMHC said this is the first report in a series that will be released throughout 2022 and 2023 to “inform better policies and decision making” related to housing supply.
“Housing starts have struggled to keep up with population growth in some CMAs, especially Toronto,” the report added.
Housing starts in Canada fell 2 per cent over a month earlier to 246,243 units in March 2022 and below market expectations of 250,000 units, according to CMHC data.
Urban starts decreased by 2 percent to 220,708 units in March, as multi-unit urban starts slipped by 5 per cent to 154,876 units while single-detached urban starts increased by 8 per cent to 65,832 units.
In Metro Vancouver, as one example based on the latest CMHC data, total housing starts so far in 2022 are down 40 per cent from the first four months of 2021 despite posting the highest new home prices in the country.
Across Canada, rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 25,535 units in March.