Homebuilding slows as housing supply hits record low in Canada, data shows

The pace of home building slowed from November to December in Canada as the number of homes on the market also dropped to record lows.

Statistics released this week from Canadian real estate authorities show that while the country’s stock of available homes for sale sits at record lows, the pace of building new units is also slowing.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Tuesday the annual pace of housing starts in December fell 22 per cent when compared with November.

The national housing agency said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 236,106 units for the final month of the year, down from 303,813 in November.

The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), meanwhile, said Monday that home sales figures were relatively unchanged in the country from November to December.

CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart said the number of properties on the market in the final month of the year was a record low.

New listings for December fell 15 per cent to 28,550 from 33,606 at the same time during the prior year.

“An aggressive national push to build more homes is what will address the issue, but it will probably have to be a greater amount of building than anything we’ve ever undertaken,” Cathcart said in a statement. “A touch over the status quo won’t cut it.”