Flickr Photo by raelmyfi
Canada was the fastest growing country in the G8, Alberta was the fastest growing province in Canada, and Edmonton and Calgary were the fastest growing major cities when their growth was measured in the 2011 census, growing at an even faster rate than in the previous five year period.
The Capital Region — including municipalities such as Beaumont, Spruce Grove and Fort Saskatchewan — grew from just over a million people in 2006 to more than 1.16 million people in 2011. That’s a 12% increase in the five-year span measured by the national population count. Most of this growth is occurring in new suburbs and bedrooms communities.
For the first time in Canada's history, the provinces west of Ontario have a higher population than the provinces east of Ontario.
Highlights from the report so far include:
- Canada’s population grew by 5.9% 2006 and 2011, slightly faster than the 5.4% increase in the five-year period before that. Statistics Canada attributed the increase in growth rate to slightly higher fertility and to an increase in the number of non-permanent residents and immigrants.
- Ontario remains by far Canada’s most populous province with 38.4% of all Canadians.
- The number of private dwellings grew by 7.1%, to 13.3 million, compared to 12.4 million five years earlier.
- The 33.5 million people counted in May, 2011 is almost twice as many as in 1961 and 10 times the 1861 census.
- Canada is the smallest G8 nation but the fastest growing. The United States is the biggest, with 311.2 million citizens, followed by Russia with 142.9 million residents.
- Canada’s population growth for the last decade has been driven mainly by migration since natural increase — the difference between births and deaths — now only account for one-third of the growth.
Additional demographic information from the census will be released by statistics Canada throughout the year.
Meanwhile, Edmonton area home builders had a busy month in January, according to a report released by CMHC today. Housing starts increased in January to 578 units compared with 363 in January 2011. The increase occurred in both
the single-detached and multi-family sectors.
Single-detached starts in January increased by 53% year-over-year to 314 units, up from 205 in January 2011, while multi-family starts increased by 67% to 264 units.
“The gain represents a strong start to the year for Edmonton’s single-detached builders,” noted Richard Goatcher, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst for Edmonton. “However, it should be noted that last year’s starts were hampered by heavy snow and cold temperatures which delayed
production across the Capital region,” he added.
Nearly 82,000 more people called Edmonton home in 2011 than in 2006.
Thats a huge chunk of people in 5 years.
Good thing there is nothing vacant empty land all around us…..we can just keep on sprawling till we annex Red Deer!
Hi Sara/Sheldon. Here is an unrelated question. As Comfree sellers can now list on the realtor website, will the EREB be reporting their sales or listings on the monthly report and/or will their numbers be reflected in the weekly numbers that you report?
Brokers for mere postings are responsible for reporting the sales information to RAE. The challange is they (brokers) say that its the sellers responsibility and the sellers don’t know what their responsibilities are. So I have had instances where I am trying to show a property and the seller tells me it was sold weeks ago. This is an ongoing problem that is currently being addressed by RAE and I would assume other boards across the country. Sales that are reported are included in RAE’s stats and ours as well.
Also keep in mind Comfree is not listing properties on REALTOR.ca, they own a separate brokerage that is posting them… just because you’re on Comfree does not mean you’re on REALTOR.ca – you have to sign an MLS® listing contract with the separate brokerage if you want on REALTOR.ca.
so excuse my ignorance Sheldon, but what is RAE?
Also, if these comfree listings are being put on Realtor.ca by a brokerage company, does that mean that realtors will get paid if they show and sell the property or do realtors still avoid them due to low or no commission? The whole thing seems confusing.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no interest in comfree but my whole point is that if they can advertise on the realtor site and are still commission free, it puts sellers at a disadvantage that are using a realtor and will pay commission as the homes can be listed side by side and obviously the comfree home will look less expensive.
I just answered some of my own questions by looking at Comfree’s website. So no charge for the brokerage service and properties still shown and sold by the owners. Now they get the best of both worlds in that people who start looking at MLS properties can compare both very easily.
Seems like a raw deal for people who want to use a realtor.
That is incorrect. There is an extra charge if you want your home on REALTOR.ca.
RAE = REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. This is a whole other topic and not something we can explain in a few sentences. We’ll put up a post on the topic soon.