Halifax has the largest housing construction pipeline per capita among 16 major Canadian markets

Halifax had 14,414 homes under construction at the end of June 2026. Relative to its 2025 population estimate, that was 26.46 units under construction per 1,000 residents—the highest rate among the 16 Canadian census metropolitan areas tracked here.

The pipeline was not the only measure showing elevated housing activity. Halifax recorded 5,871 housing starts over the trailing 12 months ending June 2026, or 10.78 starts per 1,000 residents. That placed it fourth among the 16 markets on this single measure.

Completions moved differently. Halifax completed 3,016 homes during the same period, down 30.1% from the preceding 12 months and equivalent to 5.54 completions per 1,000 residents.

Together, the figures describe a market with a large volume of work in progress, a high recent rate of starts and a lower recent rate of completions. They do not establish when the units under construction will be completed.

Halifax's pipeline stands out after adjusting for population

Halifax's estimated population was 544,834 in 2025. Its 14,414 units under construction therefore represented 26.46 units for every 1,000 residents.

The next-highest rates among the markets tracked here were lower:

Halifax's under-construction stock was also 24.5% higher in June 2026 than one year earlier. That was the largest year-over-year increase among the 16 markets, narrowly ahead of Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo at 24.1%.

This comparison is about construction intensity, not absolute scale. Toronto, for example, had far more units under construction in raw terms, but its much larger population produced a rate of 12.97 per 1,000 residents.

Units under construction are a point-in-time stock. Large apartment projects can remain in this measure for an extended period, so the total should not be treated as a schedule of future completions.

Starts rose while completions declined

Over the trailing 12 months ending June 2026, Halifax recorded:

• 5,871 housing starts, up 20.3% from the preceding 12 months
• 3,016 housing completions, down 30.1%
• 14,414 units under construction at June 2026, up 24.5% year over year

On a population-adjusted basis, Halifax ranked fourth for starts at 10.78 per 1,000 residents, behind Moncton, Calgary and Edmonton. Its completion rate of 5.54 per 1,000 ranked 12th.

The difference between starts and completions helps explain why it is useful to keep the measures separate. Starts count projects entering construction during the period. Completions count units reaching completion, often from projects started earlier. Units under construction measure the stock still in progress at a particular date.

They are related, but they are not interchangeable—and the starts recorded in one 12-month period should not be matched directly to completions in that same period.

Apartments and rental housing dominate the mix

Halifax's recent housing starts were concentrated in apartments and rental-intended units.

During the trailing 12 months ending June 2026:

• apartments accounted for 78.2% of housing starts
• single-detached homes accounted for 13.3%
• row homes accounted for 5.7%
• semi-detached homes accounted for 2.8%
• rental-intended units accounted for 74.9% of starts

The apartment share describes dwelling structure, while the rental share describes intended tenure; the two categories overlap and should not be added together.

Halifax had the third-highest rental share among the 16 markets, behind Montréal and Québec City. That mix matters when interpreting the large under-construction count because multifamily projects typically place many units into the pipeline at once and can have different construction timelines from single-detached homes.

It also gives building-product manufacturers and distributors a more specific view of current activity than the total number of starts alone. A market dominated by rental apartments can imply a different project and product mix from a market with the same number of starts concentrated in detached housing. The published data describes that mix; it does not measure product demand directly.

Pending starts add context, not a forecast

Halifax had 3,206 pending starts at the end of June 2026. These are units with residential building permits issued but for which a housing start had not yet been recorded.

That equalled 5.88 pending starts per 1,000 residents, the fourth-highest rate among the tracked markets, behind Vancouver, Calgary and Québec City. The raw count was 21.4% lower than a year earlier.

Pending starts can help describe the volume of permitted housing awaiting a recorded start, but they are not a forecast. Projects may begin on different schedules, change or not proceed, and the measure does not provide a completion date.

Permit values and investment provide a more restrained signal

The dollar-based measures did not move in the same direction as housing starts or the under-construction stock.

Halifax recorded approximately $1.42 billion in residential building permit value over the trailing 12 months ending June 2026. That was 10.9% lower than in the preceding 12 months in nominal terms and 14.3% lower using Statistics Canada's constant-dollar series.

The split by dwelling type was also uneven:

• nominal single-dwelling permit value increased 1.8%
• nominal multiple-dwelling permit value declined 15.3%
• in constant-dollar terms, single-dwelling permit value declined 2.4% and multiple-dwelling permit value declined 18.3%

Residential construction investment declined 0.8% nominally and 4.7% after price adjustment. Halifax's residential building construction price index increased 4.4% over the latest four quarters compared with the prior four.

These measures cover different stages and concepts. Permit values describe authorized construction value, starts and completions count dwelling units, and investment measures construction spending. A high unit count can coexist with declining permit value when project timing, dwelling mix and values differ.

What the Halifax data says—and what it does not

Halifax's current profile is distinctive across the 16 markets:

• it had the highest number of units under construction per capita
• it ranked fourth in housing starts per capita
• starts increased while completions declined over their respective trailing 12-month comparisons
• nearly three-quarters of starts were rental-intended
• residential permit value declined in both nominal and constant-dollar terms

That is not a single signal of market strength or a forecast of what comes next. It is a set of current and recent measures that point to different parts of the construction cycle.

For market comparison, the clearest conclusion is narrower: Halifax had an unusually large housing construction pipeline relative to its population at the end of June 2026, and that pipeline was heavily oriented toward apartment and rental construction.

For businesses evaluating the market, raw scale still matters. Halifax is much smaller than Toronto, Montréal or Vancouver in absolute terms. But its per-capita measures show a level of current housing construction activity that would be easy to miss in a ranking based only on total units or permit dollars.

---

About the data

Figures are based on official Statistics Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data compiled by Canadian Construction Market Intelligence. Unless otherwise stated, flow measures use the trailing 12 months ending June 2026. Population-normalized measures use the 2025 population estimate, and stock measures refer to June 2026.

Permit values are shown in nominal and constant-dollar terms. Units under construction and pending starts are descriptive indicators, not forecasts of future starts or completions.

Explore the Halifax construction market

See housing starts rankings

See homes under construction rankings

Compare Halifax and Moncton using the current published data

Read the methodology