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The biggest issue affecting housing affordability in Canada is that supply isn’t keeping pace with demand. Simply put, Canada is facing a housing shortage.
As Canada's trusted source of housing information, we’re conducting an extensive analysis of the state of housing supply in Canada. We’re also working to identify gaps and better understand barriers to increasing and preserving existing supply.
As a first step, we’ve just released the Housing Supply Report. The report provides insights on new housing supply in Canada’s 6 largest Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). It offers CMHC economists’ in-depth analysis on new trends related to housing supply.
The Housing Supply Report is the first of a series of publications that will be released over the course of 2022 and 2023 addressing supply. Others will provide analysis on the magnitude of supply gaps today and going forward to 2030.
Housing supply is fundamental to the housing affordability challenges we see across housing markets. This report highlights housing supply trends across major cities to help us understand price escalation and housing affordability challenges.
Overall, we discovered:
- Housing starts have struggled to keep up with population growth in some CMAs, especially Toronto, making affordability a significant challenge.
- Apartments dominate construction in large urban centres, such as Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. In these CMAs, the various constraints (land, bylaws, etc.) may be more significant. In Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa, meanwhile, starts of houses (includes single, semi-detached, and row) remain strong.
- The proportion of rental housing starts increased in several CMAs, including Montréal and Vancouver. However, rental housing starts remains low in Toronto.
- Toronto leads in the construction of high-rise apartment buildings with several units (includes units for rent or for ownership). For many other CMAs, a multitude of buildings with fewer units and floors dominate the urban landscape.
- These different types of buildings can have different construction times and costs. Some CMAs may therefore be able to deliver new units more quickly and at a different cost, thereby influencing market affordability.
Download the Housing Supply Report (PDF)
Find key highlights for Canada's largest centres below
Vancouver
- Multi-family development accounted for over 85% of new construction in Metro Vancouver in 2021. Much of this construction concentrated in specific areas near transit.
- The Vancouver region continues to experiment with innovative alternate housing forms to intensify the use of its limited and expensive land area.
- These innovations, along with further densification, are much needed given the significant supply gaps that Vancouver faces now and in the future.
- Secondary suites and laneway homes are examples of housing forms built in Vancouver that could be replicated in other Canadian cities to diversify their supply of rental housing.
Edmonton
- Improvements in economic conditions and population growth increased construction activity for second year in a row since the onset of the pandemic.
- Rental apartment construction reached new highs in 2021 with significant diversity in the locations where structures broke ground. Also, in the size of projects.
- Greater flexibility in permitted uses for single-detached lots in Edmonton holds promise for future infill development.
Calgary
- Starts in 2021 rise to highest levels in half a decade, supported by positive economic and demand outlook.
- Calgary continues to expand both north and south through undeveloped land.
- Single family homes and apartment units under construction trend higher after a brief pause in 2020.
Toronto
- The inventory of completed and unsold new homes concluded 2021 near historic lows.
- Total housing starts were above trend in 2021. Ground-oriented starts comprised most activity in suburban areas and apartment starts were more prevalent in the urban core.
- Purpose-built rental construction increased in recent years, but condominium apartments remained the dominant built form in 2021.
Ottawa
- In 2021, new construction activity rose by 3% to over 10,000 starts. This is the highest level in nearly 50 years.
- More than two thirds of housing starts were in the suburbs outside the greenbelt. A large portion were just beyond the greenbelt. Most of this construction is of single-detached homes and row houses.
- Freehold homes still account for the majority of housing starts. However, nearly 40% of housing starts were apartments. This proportion is growing.
Montréal
- Sustained construction of rental apartments in several suburban sectors, driven by very low vacancy rates.
- The central sectors are full of large rental towers and condominiums.
- Significant single-family home starts in the outlying suburbs. These suburbs are benefiting from new remote work opportunities as a result of the pandemic and a greater amount of available land.
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