Post by
undervalue on May 05, 2022 3:32pm
BC Municipalities Stats. Housing supply.
Recently released census data indicates that this growth in completions has translated into total private dwellings approximately keeping pace with population growth over the past 5 years. Between 2016 and 2021, B.C.’s population grew by 352,824 (7.6% growth) while the number of dwellings grew by 148,277 (7.2% growth) in the same period. While there is a level of indeterminacy in the data since current information on household size in B.C. will not be available until later this year, the data for the most recent year available (2016; 2.4 persons per household) indicates that the growth in 4 homes closely tracks population growth. It also certainly undercuts any claims that there is a gross misalignment between the growth in new homes and the growth in B.C.’s population. In fact, in several large metropolitan areas, private dwelling growth has exceeded population growth (Figure 2). Across Canada, no other province or territory has seen higher growth in total dwellings over this period, except the Yukon (Figure 3). Furthermore, analysis of 2001-2016 data finds little evidence to support claims that the supply of housing units in expensive markets has been inadequate to keep up with growth in household numbers.
Comment by
longrun86 on May 17, 2022 7:49pm
I read the UBCM report and I found it funny how they blamed housing unaffordability on a whole host of issues but never took responsibility for how difficult and expensive the permitting process is! It would be really nice to see a report that outlines the average total cost by category of constructing homes (single and multi-family) as well as the timeline from initial purchase to completion.