A Canadian View of the American Housing Industry

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, seasonally adjusting housing starts for September in that country hit 658,000 units. Canada’s rate for September was 205,900. The U.S. population is about 307 million. Canada’s is a bit over 34 million. A little math will tell you that a country a tenth of the size of the U.S. is building one house for every three being built in America. Seen another way; if Canada was building houses at the same clip as the U.S. relative to its population, the seasonally adjusted rate for housing starts would be 68,000 units; a bit less that Ontario’s seasonally adjusted starts. Imagine not a single house being built in Canada outside of Ontario. That would be an epic housing disaster. On the other hand, if the U.S. were building at Canada’s rate, it would be racking up 1.8 milliion starts. That’s the kind of industry health we are enjoying. Count your lucky stars.