If you drive around the newer neighborhoods in our major cities and see plenty of new homes under construction, it would be understandable if you asked: what’s all the talk about a housing shortage all about?
Well, a new report from StatsCan on the state of the new home market in seven provinces holds some of the answers. In short, population growth and house starts have not been in sync.
In the three years to the end of last year, Regina’s population grew by just under 25,000 but only 2,800 new houses were completed in that period. That works out to 113 new housing units for every 1,000 new residents, the second-lowest rate in the nation behind St. John’s.
The story in Saskatoon was only slight better with population growth of almost 40,000 in those three years and 6,500 new housing units. That works out to 168 new houses for every 1,000 people, the third lowest in the cities surveyed.
There was also some new home values laid out in the report. A detached single-family home in Vancouver now averages over $2 million.
