Toronto Housing Supply Outpacing Population Growth, but Costs Remain High

Unlike the strapped housing market in many American cities, Rachelle Younglai of The Globe and Mail reports that Toronto has seen an increase in housing units that is outpacing the city's population growth in the last five years. "The number of private dwellings in the Toronto area rose by 7 per cent, to 2,394,205, between 2016 and 2021. Meanwhile, the area’s population grew by 4.6 per cent, to 6,202,225 residents, according to the census figures, which were released on Wednesday."

This holds with national Canadian trends: "Across the country, the number of private dwellings – which include houses and condos – climbed by 5.7 per cent, to 16,284,235, between 2016 and 2021, the census shows. During the same time period, the country’s population expanded by 5.2 per cent, to 36,991,981 people."

Despite this apparent abundance, home prices in Toronto rose by 52 percent over the past two years, Younglai writes, with similar trends in Canada's other major cities. To some experts, this indicates that an adequate housing supply alone doesn't necessarily lead to lower costs.

The article suggests the higher number of units could be attributed to a rise in single-person households, which, for the first time, surpasses couples with children in the Canadian census.