The CMHC housing supply report for fall 2026, published September 10, 2026, shows Canada’s rental construction boom slowing in Calgary while rental construction keeps strengthening in Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver. For renters, that points to a market that is well supplied today, with the open question being what arrives after the current pipeline. This post explains what the report measures, what it leaves out, and how to read it alongside rent and vacancy data.<\/p>\n
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The Fall 2026 Housing Supply Report<\/a> is Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) look at how much housing the country is building compared with how much it needs. It tracks housing starts and completions in major cities and estimates a national supply gap. It comments on rents and vacancy only in general terms, noting that rising vacancy rates and slower rent growth are helping rental markets move toward better balance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The terms matter, because they are easy to mix up. In its Starts and Completions Survey methodology (last updated January 22, 2026), CMHC defines a start as the beginning of construction work on a building, usually when the concrete has been poured for the whole of the footing around the structure. A completion is the stage at which all the proposed construction work on a dwelling unit has been performed, although a unit can be counted as completed when up to 10% of the work remains. Units under construction are the units still being built at the end of the period shown.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CMHC counts a unit as rental when it was constructed for rental purposes, regardless of who finances the structure. That is what this post means by purpose-built rental: apartments built to be rented rather than sold as condominiums.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The report’s headline number is national. CMHC says Canada still faces a long-term housing supply gap of 187,000 to 238,000 homes per year over the next decade, and that construction is expected to slow faster than demand. Detailed rent and vacancy figures come from separate CMHC publications, including its Rental Market Report, whose next edition is scheduled for December 8, 2026.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Calgary, yes. CMHC reports that purpose-built rental starts in Calgary fell more than 30% in the first half of 2026, while still making up almost 60% of all starts in the city. CMHC says rental housing drove Calgary’s recent construction boom and is now leading the market slowdown there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Calgary’s total housing starts declined more than 20% over the same period, while condominium starts rose 4%, according to the CMHC report. CMHC also says Calgary has almost halved its supply gap through strong construction and now needs between 4,000 and 5,000 additional units a year over the next decade.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That slowdown is a Calgary finding, not a national one. Nationally, CMHC says purpose-built rental accounts for two thirds of all apartment starts in key markets, and its Housing Market Outlook (February 10, 2026) forecast that the pace of new rental construction would moderate as rental markets become more balanced and immigration-driven demand slows. So the country starts from a high base, with cities moving in different directions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Ottawa, rental construction is gaining ground. CMHC reports that rental units accounted for 54% of Ottawa’s housing starts in 2026, while condominium apartment units represented just 12%. Rental apartment completions in Ottawa also rose 64% in the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n CMHC adds that Ottawa’s rental apartment starts increased 3% year over year while condominium apartment starts fell 49%. The pattern is a shift in what gets built rather than a boom everywhere: rental is carrying new construction as condominium projects pull back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Toronto shows the same shift more sharply. According to the fall report, rental apartment starts in the Toronto area were higher than condominium apartment starts in the first half of 2026 for the first time since 1994.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The four cities do not move together, and none of them describes the country as a whole. The table below summarizes what CMHC’s Fall 2026 Housing Supply Report says about rental construction in each city.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nIs Canada’s rental construction boom really slowing down?<\/h2>\n
Why is Ottawa moving the other way?<\/h2>\n
How do Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver compare?<\/h2>\n