OPPORTUNITY · Builders & Developers · Residential Construction
CMHC’s August 2026 housing starts data, released September 16, shows Alberta moving against the national grain. Actual starts in Alberta centres were up 14 per cent year-over-year, with Calgary up 9 per cent (2,222 units) and Edmonton up 9 per cent (1,796 units). Calgary’s six-month trend rose 7 per cent from July to 23,298 units, while the national trend slipped 1.3 per cent to 244,149 units.
CMHC deputy chief economist Kevin Hughes noted that national starts “continued to trend slightly down in August, as modest gains in Quebec and Alberta only partially offset the decline in other provinces, most notably, Ontario,” as reported by Canadian Mortgage Trends.
What it means: Alberta remains one of the few provinces where the building economy is still expanding. For builders, developers, and suppliers operating here, this is the window to press the advantage — buyer attention, trades capacity, and land positions are all being contested while operators in other provinces retrench.
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