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January 16, 2024HOUSING STARTS, DECEMBER AND ANNUAL 2023 Monthly (December 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)
Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 7,855 units in December 2023. This was down 38.9% from the revised estimate of 12,846 units in November 2023.
Housing starts in Halifax dropped to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 5,533 units in December 2023, down 46.3% from 10,310 units in November 2023.
Outside of Halifax, housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2,322 units, down 8.4% from 2,536 units in November 2023.
Across Canada, housing starts rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 249,255 units in December 2023, up 18.2% from 210,918 units in November 2023.
Housing starts were up in 7 of 10 provinces last month, with the largest percentage increase in British Columbia. The largest percentage decrease was in Nova Scotia.
Year-over-year (December 2023 vs December 2022)
Nova Scotia's housing starts were up 40.4% compared with December 2022. Halifax housing starts were 89.9% up their level from December 2022. Housing starts outside the city were down 13.4% year-over-year. Across Canada, housing starts were down 0.6% year-over-year in December with gains in seven provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest year-over-year percentage decline in housing starts while New Brunswick reported the largest gain.
In unadjusted results for Halifax in December 2023, there were 479 housing starts and 543 completions. The stock of units under construction were 8,669 units in Halifax.
Annual (2023 vs 2022)
In 2023, Nova Scotia’s housing starts were up 25.3% compared to the same period in 2022. Halifax housing starts increased 41.0% and starts outside the city were up 5.8%. Across Canada, housing starts were down 8.2% in 2023 with declines in seven provinces. Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador reported the largest percentage declines in 2023 housing starts. Nova Scotia reported the largest gain in 2023.
Nova Scotia’s housing starts increased to 7,159 units in 2023, this was the strongest year since 1986.
The majority of Nova Scotia's housing starts in 2023 were in multiple-unit buildings (5,060), while there were 2,099 single detached dwelling unit starts. The increase in Nova Scotia's housing starts from 2022 was concentrated in multiple-unit starts as single-detached unit starts were declined.
Quarterly (Q4 2023, unadjusted)
Nova Scotia's unadjusted housing starts amounted to 2,625 in Q4 2023, up from 1,255 in Q4 of 2022.
Note: Completions and units under construction data for Q4 2023 are not published by Statistics Canada.
Annual values for Halifax and rest of Nova Scotia calculated from monthly results.
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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