Canada has released early results of the 2021 Census, with a detailed analysis of growth in Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs). Among the 41 metropolitan areas, 77% of the population growth between the 2016 and 2021 censuses was in the suburbs, with 23% in the urban...
Demographia Housing Affordability in Canada assesses middle-income housing affordability (Section 1) using the Median Multiple,” which is the market rate median house price divided by the pre-tax median household income (gross income). Read the full Report here...
In Canada, where income-adjusted house prices vary more than five times between metropolitan areas, the threat of a federal initiative to tax house equity could be looming. That’s the conclusion columnist Lorne Gunter, writing in The Edmonton Sun, The Winnipeg Sun and...
The 2020 TomTom Traffic Index reflects a huge drop in worldwide urban traffic congestion levels. Congestion levels (rated by the percentage of additional time required for auto travel during “rush hour”) dropped in 387 urban areas while increasing in only 13. Overall,...
“Ahead, Thar Be Dragons.” The world of 2023 is a scary place. One major war is raging, with others probably on the way. The Pax Americana that has given us freedom of the seas and allowed global trade to flourish might be breaking down. International piracy,...
Today, Canada’s natural gas sector is seeing its decade of darkness due to federal policy. And it’s not because the opportunity wasn’t there. It was because our government allowed its ideology, and that of its anti-oil and gas friends (also known as protestors) to...
Wendell Cox, December 23, 2016 In drafting a National Housing Strategy, the federal government, in cooperation with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Conference Board of Canada have produced a report on findings from public consultation. The...
Wendell Cox, December 13, 2016 The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has issued a “red warning” for the entire housing market in Canada.” Red warnings for overvaluation were issued for the Vancouver, Toronto, Hamilton, and Québec housing markets (census...
Wendell Cox Recently the city of Calgary released its municipal census report, which included data on how people commute to work. One newspaper headlined "Calgarians continue love affair with cars," noting that driving alone far outpaced the number of people using...
British Columbia Premier Christy Clark recently announced that the days of self-regulation are over for the real estate industry. The Real Estate Council of B.C. had previously been tasked with ensuring that people who are buying and selling homes in the province are...
A public advocacy campaign to amalgamate the 13 municipal governments in Greater Victoria has been underway for a few years. As elsewhere in Canada and around the world, much of the justification for the amalgamation proposal is cost savings. However, the results have...
Canada has a serious middle-income housing affordability crisis. Canada’s house prices have grown nearly three times that of household income since 2000. This contrasts with the stability between growth in house prices and household income during the previous three...
Runaway house price increases have become the rule across Canada. Since 2000, house prices across the country rose more than incomes in all of 35 larger markets, while prices rose more than four times incomes in Toronto and Vancouver. This is in stark contrast to the...
For some time , the Bank of Canada, international organizations and financial analysts have expressed concern at Canada’s rising house prices and related household debt levels. Some have even suggested risks similar to that of the housing bust that devastated...
The Notley government promises a new Municipal Government Act in the fall, following a consultive process. In its September announcement, the Government said that new Growth Management Boards would be established in the Calgary and Edmonton areas. “Growth...