Calgary leads for new home starts; affordability questions still linger

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Increasing housing supply is considered a major solution to address the affordability crisis in this country, including by Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Build Canada Homes (BCH) initiative.

However, not everyone is convinced adding housing supply offers a complete solution.

Still, Calgary leads the way for new home starts.

In the first six months of this year, Calgary recorded the highest number of housing starts among all Canadian municipalities, according to the City of Calgary’s Housing Review for Q2 2025.

The review, completed in July, relied on data collected by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Toronto’s housing starts are down 62 per cent.

This is the first time Calgary has surpassed 10,000 starts in the first half of the year and is on track to break more records.

Economists say ongoing in-migration is driving the need for more homes.

“What we’ve seen is homebuilders step up to the plate and respond to this surge in demand coming from migration, and that’s great news because we desperately need homes,” said Mark Parsons, chief economist at ATB Financial.

Over at Shane Homes’ new northwest community, Esker Park, 350 detached and semi-detached homes are under construction.

“We are seeing massive growth in the northwest. If you were to come up here—I call it the 144th belt—it’s literally seven new communities,” said Troy Dixon, Esker Park area manager for Shane Homes.

Dixon says increased supply offers homebuyers an abundance of choice, which continues to be enticing for locals and interprovincial investors.

However, one real estate and data expert says more needs to be done to address Canada’s ongoing housing crisis.

“If we want houses to be affordable for the next generation—the younger generation—they need to be a less lucrative investment for my generation and the boomers,” said John Pasalis, president of Realosophy Realty.

His research finds real estate in Canada is less about a place to live and more about investment.

“A lot of people are going out and buying suburban low-rise homes that were traditionally owner-occupied and just using them as an investment property, so we have to make that process less lucrative,” he said.

Pasalis says prices in Calgary continue to rise, while prices in Toronto have crashed.

Building new homes reflects a revenue opportunity for new homebuilders.

He suggests policymakers consider adding taxes on secondary properties, or capital gains tax.

He also suggests increased requirements for down payments will curb investors buying multiple properties and squeezing out first-time homebuyers.

According to a citation from the Calgary Real Estate Board in the city’s Q2 housing review, the benchmark price for a single-family home is down 2.5 per cent to $589,100 compared to this time last year.