Ontario’s homebuilding industry showed signs of life in the first month of the year, with housing starts finally improving after years of persistent decline in the face of cratering pre-construction sales.
Data released by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that Ontario saw a 12 per cent bump in new housing starts for January 2026 compared with the same period in 2025.
The data also shows there were 550 single-detached homes starting construction across the province — a sign that the ongoing oversupply of homes, coupled with low demand, has led to a slowdown in stand-alone homes.
The vast majority of the units were multi-residential developments, with most of them rentals. A total of 3,905 new homes were in multi-unit buildings. Of those units, 2,200 were rentals and 1,158 were condos.
Ontario’s housing starts were substantially better than Quebec’s, where they fell by 33 per cent year over year. British Columbia recorded a 41 per cent increase.
The Ford government has overseen a flailing housing industry for years. First, the premier blamed rising interest rates for the lack of housing, promising new homes would sprout “like mushrooms” if rates dropped.
Get daily National news
But when the cost of borrowing fell, the housing market didn’t rebound. Ford suggested the cost of building approvals and permits from cities was to blame, an issue his administration has repeatedly tried to address through legislation.
Most recently, Ontario unveiled a new home tax incentive for first-time buyers. A couple of months after it was introduced, the premier said he knew it wouldn’t work, suggesting it needed to be expanded.
Housing Minister Rob Flack said last November that he was refocusing on the coming spring, adding that a series of new and already-announced changes were designed to spur construction in 2026.
“If you take a look at Bill 17 and now Bill 60 … we’re creating the conditions for next spring. We really are setting up for success for next spring,” Flack said at the time.
Bill 17 paved the way for development charge (DC) deferrals — a major change that allows developers to pay municipal fees when the property is handed over to the buyer, rather than when the building permit is issued.
While the legislation was tabled in early June, regulations that enforce the law were only approved in November, making it mandatory for municipalities to defer the charges.
“If you have to pay these costly DCs up front, that takes away from being able to get shovels in the ground. It’s costly,” Flack said.
The Ford government is massively struggling to hit its target of 1.5 million new homes by 2031.
As part of the push, the government assigned housing targets to major municipalities, offering financial incentives to towns and cities that hit their targets.
Even after adding basement units, long-term care beds and student residences for 2024, the province only achieved 80 per cent of its 125,000 goal last year.
The goal target for 2025 was 150,000, and for 2026, it will be 175,000.
The government acknowledged late last year that its own goal is likely impossible, with the finance minister calling it a “soft target.”
In most US jurisdictions, municipalities issue bonds to pay for development infrastructure rather than the developer avoiding the front load cost that of course inflates the new house costs. The so-called “thinking” is developers should pay the cost as if any cost in the production costs would not end up in the price. This infantile thinking in Toronto allow them to gleefully take massive development charges and not use it for road, sewer, waste system but Sunday libraries, festivals, closed shop union suppliers and other such hobby horses.