Housing · Chart of the day
Canada Approved More Homes Than Its Population Grew in 2025–26
Canada's population grew by 189,425 people between July 2025 and July 2026. Over the same 12 months, permits were issued for 303,006 new homes. Two years earlier there were 4.3 new residents for every home approved.
Canada's population grew by 189,425 people in the 12 months to 1 July 2026. Statistics Canada says that is the smallest yearly gain since 1944–45. Over the same months, cities and towns issued building permits for 303,006 new homes, close to the previous year's 304,943, the most for any July-to-June year since at least 1957.
That works out to 0.63 new residents for every home approved. A permit is not a finished home, though. In 2025, builders started about 16 per cent fewer homes than permits allowed.
Two years ago the gap ran the other way. In 2023–24, the population grew by 1.14 million while permits covered 267,468 homes, or 4.26 people per home. In a typical year from 1957 to 2019, the figure was 1.81. The only other year below one was 2020–21, the first year of the pandemic, at 0.72.
The approvals are not spread evenly. Per resident, Calgary approved 2.8 times as many homes as Toronto over the year to August, and nine of the ten metros with the fewest approvals per person are in Ontario.
The 2025–26 population figure could still move
This year's population count is preliminary, and the last revision was large. In June, Statistics Canada's estimates showed the population shrinking by 234,597 between July 2025 and April 2026. Its September revision turned that into growth of 109,082, a swing of 343,679 people. These quarters will be revised again next September, and the 2026 Census, due in February 2027, may shift the whole series. Revisions would only need to add about 114,000 people to this year's growth for people added to pass homes approved again.
One year does not undo the boom
From July 2021 to June 2024, Canada's population grew by 2.92 million and permits covered about 833,000 homes. Count the five years to June 2026 together and the country still added 2.47 people for every home approved: 3.56 million people against 1.44 million homes.
That is still well above the 1.81 of a typical year. The bars have flipped, but the shortfall left by three boom years is still there.
