High-Rise Living Becoming More Popular in Canada's Big Cities

The development of high-rise dwellings is also connected to the high cost of the housing markets in big cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, where middle incomes can't keep up with prices. This has led to developers offering ever smaller units, in some cases less than 30 square meters. According to the Vancouver Sun,

"Statistics Canada's latest census data shows that high-rises have sprouted up across the country, with the stock expanding 10.7 per cent between 2006 and 2011. In Vancouver, the market is on fire [having expanded] 24 per cent in five years.

[T]he data show that most people still live in single family homes. About 55 per cent of all housing in Canada is this type of dwelling, about the same as in 2006. High-rises only make up a tenth of the country's housing stock, despite the fast pace of building. But that's less true in the big cities. Toronto and Vancouver in particular have seen double-digit expansion of high rises and a more moderate rate of growth in single detached homes. Now, more than a quarter of Toronto homes and 15 per cent of Vancouver dwellings are in high-rise buildings."