Construction started on record number of dwellings in Alberta in 2025
CBC
Construction started on a record number of dwellings in Alberta in 2025, going back at least 70 years, according to the latest data from the national housing agency.
The province reported nearly 54,900 housing starts last year, up more than 7,000 from 2024, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data shows. Seven in 10 of the projects were for multiple-unit dwellings, like rowhouses and apartments.
"We've really responded to the demand," Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said during a news conference Wednesday.
Alberta has ramped up homebuilding over the past couple of years, amid record population growth.
Statistics Canada population estimates suggest Alberta has grown by almost 598,000 people from 2021 through 2025. The population grew more slowly last year, but Alberta still added more people than any other province or territory.
Immigrants and people migrating from other parts of Canada have mainly been driving Alberta's population growth, data shows.
Increased construction also follows the release of a CMHC report in 2023, which stated Canada was on pace to have an inadequate supply gap of more than 3.5 million homes by 2030, in order to maintain 2004 affordability levels.
The report estimated that Alberta needed to build 20,000 more homes than the pace it was on at the time.
The CMHC launched the Housing Accelerator Fund, an incentive for local initiatives that aim to build homes more quickly, as well as support affordable and climate-resilient housing.
But Nixon said Wednesday that the Alberta government updated provincial building codes and cut red tape to help with the process. Edmonton city council, for one, also approved bylaw changes to allow for greater density.
"This is catch-up construction," Mark Parsons, chief economist for ATB Financial, told CBC News.
"We needed the homes. It's just hard to build them overnight when you get a surge in migration."
He said he expects housing starts to dip in the future, as population growth slows. But the increased construction helped maintain affordability, as more people occupied the available supply, Parsons said.
In a statement Wednesday, Opposition housing critic Janis Irwin welcomed the record housing starts, but said it does nothing for low-income renters and Albertans priced out of market housing.
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