February was another month of abysmal housing starts in Ontario, according to Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation data released Friday

Only 6,488 housing units were started in Ontario during February 2024, down seven per cent from the 6,980 starts begun in February 2023

Ontario’s February housing starts was only 52 per cent of the monthly number needed to balance the housing market by 2031 and return price stability, according to the economic analysis of the Ontario Government’s Housing Affordability Task Force

Low of housing construction indicates an oncoming low supply of housing supply, which continues to be outstripped by housing demand, putting upward pressure on prices

February marks the twenty-sixth consecutive month the Ontario Progressive Conservative government has failed to spur the housing starts needed and promised. In 2023, housing starts met only 57 per cent of the housing need identified by their task force

In February, after 25 months of measuring housing starts using CMHC data, the Ontario PCs changed their methodology, adding a variety of other housing forms to their monthly count. The changed in what is now included as a housing start has been met with skepticism in Ontario where a recent poll showed two out of three people disagreed with the government’s move to inflate their results

The Housing Affordability Task Force in 2022 found 1.5 million housing starts would be needed by 2031 to bring price balance to the housing market, or 12,500 starts per month. The Task Force’s findings set a need for 325,000 housing units to be started by February 2024. But only 189,906 starts have actually occurred

British Columbia shows housing start growt

In sharp contrast with Ontario, British Columbia’s housing starts moved forward smartly in February 2024, increasing 29 per cent from February 2023

Despite a population one third of Ontario’s 15 million, British Columbia workers started 3,620 housing units last month, 56 per cent of the number started in Ontario

The BC New Democratic Party government has recently moved on several fronts to enhance housing starts several, arguing the housing cost crisis will not be solved by relying on private markets alone. Premier Eby’s strategy has added a public sector push, particularly in land assembly and construction financing, to spur housing starts.