The increase is driven by the construction of new multi-unit housing, up 87 per cent in June 2024 compared to June 2023.
Housing construction seems to have finally taken off in Quebec, after a long period of decline and stagnation.
Using data published Tuesday by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), the Association des professionnels de la construction et de l’habitation du Québec said construction starts in June were on the rise in almost all Quebec urban centres — except Gatineau and Trois-Rivières.
The increase was driven by new multi-unit housing, the number of starts of which increased by 87 per cent in June 2024 compared to June 2023. The increase is 45 per cent for the first six months of 2024 for homes with multiple dwellings.
A little more than 95 per cent of these units, or 4,350 of them, are apartments. This is, according to the association, one of the best results for a month of June in 28 years after the record was set in June 2021.
On the other hand, starts of individual houses are down four per cent compared to June of last year, though they are up eight per cent since the start of the year.
While the Montreal region led with an explosion in the number of housing starts of all types, an increase of 226 per cent compared to June 2023, the metropolitan regions of Gatineau and Trois-Rivières are an exception to the rule, recording respectively, in June 2024, drops of 65 per cent and 67 per cent in the number of construction starts compared to June 2023.
Everywhere else, the trend is increasing — up 144 per cent in Drummondville, 128 per cent in Sherbrooke, 44 per cent in Quebec City and two per cent in Saguenay.
In smaller towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants, the average increase is 14 per cent, but the figures vary greatly from one municipality to another.
The association did not break down the data to distinguish single-family homes from multi-unit housing by region, but since there were 10 times more collective housing than single-family houses started in June in Quebec, it is assumed that a large part of the increases is due to the start of construction of multi-unit housing in most regions.