Apartment, row house growth outpaces single-detached homes: Census
BNN Bloomberg
Single-detached houses are still the most plentiful type of housing in Canada, but apartments and row houses are slowly catching up, the latest census data reveals.
Single-detached houses are still the most plentiful type of housing in Canada, but apartments and row houses are slowly catching up, the latest census data reveals.
The figures released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday show the country's 7.8 million single-detached homes made up about 53 per cent of Canada's housing supply in 2021, down from roughly 54 per cent during the 2016 census.
The data agency found the growth of single-detached homes was outpaced by apartments in both low-rises and highrises along with row houses.
Housing experts attributed much of the shift to consumer preferences, zoning regulations and the lack of space in several regions, especially popular downtown cores already known for their high density.
"The problem is land. You cannot grow it," said Murtaza Haider, a professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University.
"It's a scarce commodity for horizontal construction, but for vertical construction you can layer up floor after floor after floor."
