Canada's housing agency reports a 30% surge in multi-unit insurance and flags regulatory drag on supply
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) recorded net income of $487 million in the first quarter of 2026, up from $434 million in the same period last year. Multi-unit mortgage insurance activity surged and new securities issuance climbed sharply over the period.
At the same time, a parallel CMHC analysis concluded that decades of regulatory constraints may have denied the country hundreds of thousands of new homes.
The agency's first-quarter financial report showed 71,733 multi-unit residential units insured between January and March 2026, a 30% increase from 55,383 units in Q1 2025.
Transactional homeowner insurance rose marginally to 10,459 units from 10,030 a year earlier, driven by stronger activity in Quebec, Alberta and Ontario.
Michel Tremblay, CMHC's chief financial officer and senior vice-president of corporate services, pointed to the strength of the agency's core businesses despite mounting economic headwinds.
"Despite a more uncertain economic environment, CMHC's first quarter results reflect the strength of our core businesses," Tremblay said.
"We will continue to closely monitor economic conditions while supporting the stability and accessibility of Canada's housing system."
CMHC delivered a record-setting performance in 2025, expanding its reach across rental construction, homebuyer insurance and affordable housing programs even as trade tensions and macroeconomic volatility tested the country's financial foundations.https://t.co/rvdooyd9yn
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) May 7, 2026
Multi-unit momentum and securitisation gains
On the securitisation side, CMHC issued $20.5 billion in Canada Mortgage Bonds during the quarter, executing on the expanded $80-billion annual issuance limit announced in Budget 2025.
Total new securities guaranteed reached $63 billion, up from $54 billion in Q1 2025, a significant liquidity signal for lenders that depend on CMB-backed funding to finance mortgage portfolios.
The arrears rate edged up to 0.33% from 0.30% a year earlier, though the figure remains below historical averages and has kept claims paid at minimal levels.
MLS home prices averaged $660,000 in the quarter, down 1% year-over-year, while seasonally adjusted annualised sales fell 8% to 429,000 units.
The regulatory drag on supply
The quarterly results arrived alongside a significant CMHC research finding.
New analysis by Mathieu Laberge, CMHC chief economist and senior vice-president of housing insights, found that housing starts between 2006 and 2024 could have been nearly 30% higher than they were. Home prices, the research suggested, could have been close to 10% lower.
The findings point to regulatory conditions and structural economic factors as the primary barriers preventing supply from keeping pace with demand over that period.
The analysis identified tighter land use rules in Canada's major urban centres as a principal constraint, drawing a direct contrast with the United States, where fewer zoning restrictions in many metropolitan areas have supported a more responsive homebuilding industry.
The concentration of Canadian housing demand in a small number of large cities was flagged as a further structural barrier, reducing competitive incentives for builders to move quickly when demand rises.
Government funding for CMHC housing programs totalled $2.9 billion in the quarter, a 10% increase over Q1 2025, supported by the Co-operative Housing Development Program, the Canada Housing Benefit and the Affordable Housing Fund.
The agency's total mortgage insurance capital stood at $17.6 billion as of March 31, 2026, with a capital-to-minimum-required ratio of 223%, up from 210% at year-end 2025.
Insurance-in-force reached $486 billion, covering 20.2% of all Canadian residential mortgages.
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