A new report issued by the Fraser Institute takes aim at the number of houses being built across the country.

The report, The Crisis in Housing Affordability: Population Growth and Housing Starts 1972–2024, argues that the annual number of new homes being built in Canada in recent years is virtually the same as it was in the 1970s. This, it says, is in spite of the fact that annual population growth is now three times the rate that it was 50 years ago.

"Despite unprecedented levels of immigration-driven population growth following the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada has failed to ramp up homebuilding sufficiently to meet housing demand," said co-author Steven Globerman.

Between 2021 and 2024, Canada's population grew by an average of 859,473 people per year, while only 254,670 new housing units were started annually. From 1972 to 1979, a similar number of new housing units were built—239,458—despite the population only growing by 279,975 people a year.

As a result, the report says, more new residents are competing for each new home than in the past, which is driving up housing costs.

"The evidence is clear—population growth has been outpacing housing construction for decades, with predictable results," Globerman said. "Unless there is a substantial acceleration in homebuilding, a slowdown in population growth, or both, Canada's housing affordability crisis is unlikely to improve."

Similar trends hold in Ontario, where housing starts averaged 92,724 a year while population growth averaged 111,305 a year. From 2022 to 2024, housing starts averaged 86,650—less than in the 1970s—but the province’s population grew by 411,163 people a year, on average.