Québec housing starts fall 20.3% in September

Québec’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts fell 20.3 per cent in September to 53,320 units, according to the Institut de la statistique du Québec.

The provincial update published October 16, using Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data, puts the monthly decline at 13,583 annualized units. It followed a 5.5 per cent decrease in August and a 32.2 per cent increase in July.

The longer view is less volatile

For the first nine months of 2026, Québec’s average seasonally adjusted annual rate was 60,063 units, up 1.7 per cent from the same period in 2025. The monthly figure is annualized and adjusted for seasonal patterns; it is not a count of homes completed in September.

Across Canada, the September annual rate rose 2.8 per cent to 248,896 units. The national average for January through September was 247,516 units, down 4.6 per cent from a year earlier.

Housing-start data can swing sharply from month to month, particularly when large multi-unit projects begin. The year-to-date comparison provides useful context for September’s decline.

Illustrative image: Photo by Patrick Tomasso / Unsplash. Cropped and resized. The Toronto construction scene is illustrative and is not a photograph of September starts in Québec.