Affordable housing is a key component of the “Alberta Advantage”. But there are disturbing signs that we are losing ground on that front – not least among them the fact that more than 60% of Albertans agree with the statement that “owning a home in Canada is now only for the rich.”
Our housing prices are still well short of the stratospheric levels of Toronto and Vancouver. But the numbers show that both Edmonton and Calgary are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
There’s also a growing realization that something different is at play this time. What we’re seeing isn’t a familiar boom-bust impact of energy prices, but the outcome of a massive imbalance between demand and supply. The data bears this out. Statistics Canada recently reported that Canada’s population growth is faster than all other G7 countries, and that Alberta is leading the pack provincially at 4% annual growth.
To read the latest edition of the Alberta Construction Monitor, click here.