There were 274,829 housing units in construction across the country in the last quarter of 2019, a record that has never been witnessed by Canada, a market watcher said.
The number of homes under construction in Q4 2019 was up by 2.82% on a quarterly basis and 7.4% on an annual basis, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This created another peak for housing construction, which was a little over 30% higher than any previous peak.
Ontario accounted for the biggest portion of homes under construction. Of the total homes currently being built during the quarter, 118,576 were from the province.
“Units under construction are up a whopping 8.77% from the same quarter a year before. The previous peak for housing under construction was all the way back in 1973,” said Daniel Wong, a market watcher at Better Dwelling.
British Columbia also represented a significant portion of housing construction for the quarter. The province recorded 65,941 housing construction, up 2.39% from the previous quarter and 8% from a year before. This new peak is almost 50% higher than any other previous records witnessed by the province.
Wong said Canada is witnessing skyrocketing construction levels due to the recent housing boom.
“Most of this supply won’t be hitting the market in the near term, but when it does, it’s going to relieve a lot of pressure for prices to move higher,” he said.
