Faced with surging demand, Alberta broke housing construction records. Is there a lesson there?

Alberta broke housing construction records in 2025 and led the country in housing starts per capita — a massive upswing in homebuilding that comes after a period of similarly massive population growth.

Some experts say there are lessons other Canadian cities could learn about how to ramp up housing supply to meet demand.

First, the numbers. 

In 2025, there were about 54,900 housing starts in Alberta — an increase of about 15 per cent compared to the year before, according to numbers from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Housing starts in 2024 were also strong, with a 33 per cent increase compared to 2023.

Alberta saw a particular boom in the construction of rental housing, according to a provincial news release celebrating the numbers, which said new construction helped rents fall and settle at around $400 less than the national average. 

The province saw similarly steep increases in building during the late 1970s and mid-2000s — boom times in the oil and gas industry that drew young people west.

But it’s not a given that the market will respond to a surge in demand by ramping up construction, according to housing commentator Mike Moffatt.

In the past decade and a half, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) famously saw several spikes in demand that didn’t lead to much of a boom in homebuilding — or, at least, not enough construction of the homes that were most needed — just much higher prices, Moffatt said.

“It's that combination of having that demand, but then also having the policy environment to meet that demand,” said Moffatt, founder of the Missing Middle Initiative at the University of Ottawa. 

“That's where Alberta really shines.”

Some of Alberta’s advantage comes down to geography. Cities in Alberta tend to be a bit more spread out, said Moffatt, which means you can build outward more easily (though that can come with its own challenges, such as the need to build new water infrastructure to service far-flung suburban neighbourhoods).

In Alberta, developers also don’t need to contend with provincial sales tax, he said, which makes it cheaper to build. 

Fees that developers pay to municipalities also tend to be lower in Alberta, with costs more evenly spread among property taxes rather than focused on new development, he said. 

And, generally, development policy is also friendlier at a municipal level in Alberta, said Moffatt.