The Fraser Institute is reporting that the annual number of new homes being built in Canada in recent years is virtually the same as it was in the 1970s, despite annual population growth now being three times higher.
“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, Fraser Institute senior fellow 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 only 254,670 new housing units were started annually. From 1972 to 1979, 239,458 new housing units were built despite the population only growing by 279,975 people a year.
