Vancouver homebuilding took a sharp step back in July, with housing starts falling 42 per cent from the same month last year.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation counted 1,810 housing starts across the Vancouver region, down from 3,108 in July 2025.

Most of that decline came from apartments, townhouses and other multi-unit housing. Builders started 1,642 of those homes, 44 per cent fewer than a year earlier.

Single-detached construction also slowed. Vancouver recorded 168 starts in July, down 13 per cent from 194 last year.

The drop was much steeper than the one seen in Toronto, where starts fell 10 per cent to 1,540 homes from 1,720.

Montreal managed to buck the trend. Its housing starts rose three per cent to 2,458 from 2,391, as an increase in multi-unit construction more than made up for fewer single-detached starts.

The picture also weakened from one month to the next across Canada.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts fell five per cent in July, dropping to 229,074 units from 240,773 in June. The measure shows how many homes would be started in a year if construction continued at the same monthly pace.

Fewer apartments, townhouses and other multi-unit homes got underway nationally. Their annualized pace fell six per cent from June, while single-detached construction was nearly unchanged.