Canada’s new homes market is booming with near record housing starts — with one exception, Ontario. RBC Economics recently published a study on new home starts in Canada, leveraging new data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. from late August. The report found that while activity across Canada has increased to 200,000 annualized starts (seasonally adjusted) this year, up from a five-year low of about 140,000 starts in May 2023, construction in Ontario has gone in the opposite direction. Despite being Canada’s largest market, including for new homes construction, Ontario has seen housing starts decline this year to about 63,000 annualized as of July. What’s more, activity has now declined about 40 per cent from record levels at the end of 2022, when the province had an annualized rate of nearly 106,000 starts. RBC noted the decline is troubling for the nation’s overall housing market, which lacks affordable housing for buyers and renters.