New home construction down 14% in Ottawa so far in 2024, CMHC statistics show

Ottawa's home construction market cooled in October, with housing starts down 42 per cent compared to the same month in 2023.

New statistics from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) show there were 636 housing starts in October, down from 1,106 housing starts the year before. Ottawa saw 1,510 housing starts in September.

October's housing starts included 120 new single-family homes and 516 other units.

Mike Moffatt, a housing expert and founding director of PLACE uOttawa, says the reasons are mostly economic, given higher interest rates in recent years. The city has also increased its development fees for builders by nearly 30 per cent.  

"We are not seeing much in the preconstruction condo markets. We've got the worst condo market in the last 30 years or so, coupled with regulatory changes that aren't working in our favour," said Moffatt.

"We need to see more reforms from both the provincial and municipal governments. We need to see more from the province to stream line regulations and to find better ways to pay for infrastructure." 

CMHC says construction started on 6,520 new homes and other units in the first 10 months of 2024, down from 7,619 through the January-October period in 2023.

Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has set a target of 12,583 new dwellings for Ottawa in 2024 for the city to be eligible for funding under the Building Faster Fund. Municipalities will be eligible for funding if they reach 80 per cent or more of their annual housing targets.

"The city sort of needs to recognize that if it keeps hiking taxes and charges, all those homes are just going to get built in Mississippi Mills, Perth and Carleton Place," said Moffatt.

"Those families are going to keep driving to the city of Ottawa to work and shop and play but they're going to be paying municipal property taxes to someone else. We need to see more leadership from the city or our tax base is just going to keep eroding." 

Across Canada, there were 19,670 housing starts in October, down from 22,163 starts in October 2023. Construction has started on 168,952 homes and units across Canada in the first 10 months of the year.

The statistics show construction has started on 509 homes in Kingston so far in 2024, down from 1,353 homes during the January-October period in 2023. In October, construction began on 189 new homes and units.

In Gatineau, construction started on 3,089 homes in the first 10 months of 2024, up from 2,689 homes in the January-October period last year. The report shows construction started on 729 new homes and units in October.