Apartment construction surged last year but demand still outpacing supply, says CMHC [Video]

A surge in new apartment construction drove housing start increases in some major Canadian cities last year, but demand continues to outweigh supply, according to a report released Wednesday by the federal housing agency.

The report from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation focuses on six major cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. Their combined housing starts dipped 0.5 per cent compared with 2022, totalling 137,915 units, as apartment starts grew seven per cent, to reach a record 98,774 units.

That number was offset by declines in the number of new single-detached homes, which fell 20 per cent year over year, due to weaker demand for higher-priced homes in an elevated mortgage rate environment.

“We ended up being positively surprised by 2023. We were really quite concerned that higher interest rates were going to really have an impact,” said CMHC deputy chief economist Aled ab Iorweth.

“They did have …