Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer
Despite record-setting population growth, the number of new homes built annually in Canada remains virtually unchanged from the 1970s — a mismatch that is worsening the country’s housing affordability crisis, according to a report released Tuesday by the Fraser Institute.
“Despite unprecedented levels of immigration-driven population growth following the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has failed to ramp up homebuilding sufficiently to meet housing demand,” said Steven Globerman, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of The Crisis in Housing Affordability: Population Growth and Housing Starts 1972–2024.
Between 2021 and 2024, Canada’s population grew by an average of 859,473 people per year, while an average of 254,670 new housing units were started annually. From 1972 to 1979, a similar number of homes — 239,458 per year — were started, even though population growth during that period averaged just 279,975 annually.
That means more new residents are now competing for each new home, placing increasing pressure on housing costs.
“The evidence is clear — population growth has been outpacing housing construction for decades, with predictable results,” Globerman said. “Unless there is a substantial acceleration in homebuilding, a slowdown in population growth, or both, Canada’s housing affordability crisis is unlikely to improve.”
Key findings from the report include:
- Canada experienced unprecedented population growth after the COVID-19 pandemic without a corresponding increase in new home construction.
- In 2023, the country’s population rose by a record 1.23 million people, largely due to immigration — more than double the previous record set in 2019.
- Population growth slowed in 2024 to 951,517, still higher than any year before 2023.
- In 2024, construction began on 245,367 housing units, down from a recent high of 271,198 in 2021. The peak was 273,203 starts in 1976.
- In past decades, Canada’s housing starts regularly exceeded 200,000 annually, even when population growth was much lower.
- In 2023, there were 5.1 new residents for every housing unit started — the highest ratio in the study’s time frame, which spans from 1972 to 2024. The long-term average is 1.9 residents per housing start.
- That figure improved modestly in 2024 to 3.9 new residents per housing start, but remains higher than any pre-pandemic level.
- Similar trends are visible across all 10 provinces, with population growth outpacing housing starts to varying degrees.
The report concludes that without a significant increase in homebuilding, a slowdown in population growth, or both, housing affordability in Canada is unlikely to improve.
