Statistics // Highlights from 'Housing Starts, December and Annual 2024' and 'Building Construction, November 2024'

The following statistics were released from the Economics and Statistics Division on January 17, 2025 and January 20, 2025, respectively.

For full details from ‘Housing Starts, December and Annual, 2024,’ please click here.

For full details from ‘Building Construction, November 2024,’ please click here.

Monthly (December 2024 vs November 2024, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)

Nova Scotia’s housing starts (seasonally adjusted annualized rate) totalled 5,990 units in December 2024
- This was a 5.0% decrease from the previous month’s revised value of 6,303
Housing starts in Halifax rose to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3,735 units in December 2024, up from 3,640 units in November 2024

Year-over-year (December 2024 vs December 2023, seasonally adjusted annualized rate)

Nova Scotia’s housing starts were down 24.4% compared with 7,926 units pace in December 2023
Halifax housing starts were down 32.4% from their rate in December 2023 (5,526)
Housing starts outside the city were down 6.0% year-over-year from their pace in December 2023 (2,400)
Across Canada, housing starts were down 7.6% year-over-year in December with gains in five provinces

Annual (2024 vs 2023)

In 2024, Nova Scotia’s housing starts were up 3.1% compared with 2023
Halifax starts were up 6.9% while starts outside the city decreased by 2.0%
Across Canada, housing starts were up 2.1% with gains in seven provinces
Nova Scotia’s housing starts increased to 7,381 units in 2024, this was the strongest year since 1986

Monthly (November 2024 vs October 2024, seasonally adjusted)

Investment in Nova Scotia building construction increased by 4.8% in November 2024 to $538.2 million
Halifax monthly building construction was up to $278.1 million while outside of Halifax building construction was up to $260.1 million
Nationally, investment in building construction declined 0.5% despite increases in six provinces

Nova Scotia’s non-residential building construction declined 1.5% to $107.3 million
In Halifax, non-residential construction was down 1.4% to $67.2 million
Outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was down 1.7% to $40.1 million

Year-to-date (January-November 2024 vs January-November 2023)

Compared to January-November 2023, building construction investment was up 22.1% in Nova Scotia
Halifax construction activity was up 26.2% and outside of Halifax construction activity was up 18.0%
National building construction investment was up 5.9%, with gains in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia’s non-residential construction was up 31.8% compared to January-November 2023, the fastest gain among provinces
Halifax’s non-residential construction rose 21.9% while outside of Halifax, non-residential construction was up 49.6%
National non-residential construction investment increased 5.0% compared to January-November 2023

All categories and locations of building construction investment reported year-to-date growth with the fastest increases (in percentage terms) for institutional/governmental building projects – particularly outside Halifax
In Halifax, the next fastest percentage gains in construction were reported in industrial buildings and multiple unit dwellings
Outside the city, the next fastest percentage gains after institutional/governmental buildings were in multiple unit dwellings and industrial buildings

Statistics // Highlights from ‘Housing Starts, December and Annual 2024’ and ‘Building Construction, November 2024’