Ontario housing starts at lowest level since 2009, financial watchdog says [Video]

Ontario’s housing starts for the first quarter of this year were at the lowest levels since 2009, the province’s financial accountability officer said in a report Wednesday.

The FAO’s economic monitor report said the latest economic indicators are largely positive, with employment, retail and wholesale trade, manufacturing sales and exports all seeing gains, but there is “significant weakness” in the housing sector.

In the first quarter of 2025, construction started on 12,700 housing units, which financial accountability officer Jeffrey Novak said is the lowest level since 2009.

That’s down 20 per cent from the first quarter of 2024, a year that also saw relatively low levels of housing starts.

“Home building has been negatively affected by high construction costs and weak sales as households continue to face housing affordability challenges,” Novak wrote.

The government set a goal of getting 1.5 million new homes built over 10 years, by 2031, but …