Construction of new homes rose 22 per cent in Ottawa from January to October, compared to the same period in 2024.
In its October report released Tuesday, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said the city recorded 7,945 housing starts between January and October 2025, up from the 6,520 recorded in 2024.
That includes 1,101 single-detached starts, a six per cent decrease from 2024, and 6,844 multi-unit starts, a 28 per cent increase.
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Starts were up 22 per cent to 777 last month, compared to 636 starts recorded in October 2024.
In the Ottawa-Gatineau region, the increase was more modest due to an overall decline in housing starts in Gatineau. Between January and October 2025, Gatineau recorded 1,917 housing starts, a 38 per cent decrease from the 3,089 recorded in the previous year.
CMHC data showed that the region as a whole saw a three per cent increase in starts so far this year compared to 2024.
Annual pace of housing starts dropped 17% nationally in October
Nationally, CMHC reported Tuesday that the annual pace of housing starts in October fell 17 per cent compared with September.
The housing agency said the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 232,765 units in October, down from 279,174 in September.
Tania Bourassa-Ochoa, CMHC’s deputy chief economist, said the drop came as the number of starts in Ontario and British Columbia fell in October.
However, she noted that higher starts in markets such as Montreal, Calgary and Edmonton helped keep the national year-to-date total elevated compared with the same period last year.
Actual housing starts in centres with a population of 10,000 or greater totalled 19,174 units in October, compared with 19,763 in October 2024, while the year-to-date total for centres with a population of 10,000 or greater was 197,207, up from 188,660 in the same period in 2024.
The six-month moving average of the seasonally adjusted annual rate of total housing starts was 268,907 in October, down from 277,081 in September.
With files from The Canadian Press
