THREAT · Builders & Developers · Residential Construction
CMHC’s July housing starts data, released August 18, shows Calgary starts down 20% year-over-year — 1,504 units in July 2026 versus 1,889 a year earlier — while Edmonton held nearly flat at 2,174 units, down just 1%. Nationally, the six-month trend eased 0.5% to 247,377 units and the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate fell 5% to 229,074, with actual starts in larger centres down 19% from July 2025. Year-to-date national starts are running 4% behind last year. The full figures are in CMHC’s July release.
CMHC deputy chief economist Tania Bourassa-Ochoa noted that while the construction pipeline remains substantial and completions are increasing, fewer new projects are being started in many markets — naming Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto specifically. For Alberta’s building industry, that combination matters: a heavy delivery schedule of previously started product is arriving into a market where fewer new projects are breaking ground.
What it means: For Calgary builders and developers, the competitive dynamic is shifting from land and trades capacity to buyer capture — more completed inventory chasing a cooler buyer pool. Operators with strong pre-sale marketing, community-level positioning and absorption discipline will hold pricing power; those relying on the market’s momentum of the past three years will feel the gap first. Edmonton’s stability, by contrast, continues to reward builders who can scale there.
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