The rise in housing starts and residential building permits shows that the Alberta construction sector has been responding to the surge in demand that has accompanied the province’s rapid population growth.

Both single-dwelling and multi-dwelling projects are part of this, but it is the multi-dwelling category that has been posting the strongest numbers.

On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, 74% of the new housing units awarded permits from January to August of this year were in multi-dwelling buildings—8 percentage points higher than the average YTD share since 2017 (when the current data series begins).

In absolute terms, YTD multi-dwelling permits will add 23,576 new housing units compared to 9,821 single-dwelling homes.

Other indicators point to a similar trend. Spending on new** buildings has also increased more in the multi-dwelling category, which was up by 45% YTD compared to 27% in the single-dwelling category.

Spending on new multi-dwelling buildings also represented more than half of total YTD spending on new buildings for the second year in a row.

It is a very different story nationally, with spending on the construction of new homes up only 2% YTD. Single-dwelling spending was actually down by 8% while multi-dwelling spending was up by 9%.

Despite the uptick in activity in Alberta, it will take time for new home construction to catch up to the record-setting population growth Alberta has been experiencing. The province recently added over 204,000 new residents in just a 12-month period.

*Multi-dwelling buildings include duplexes, row housing and apartments.

**Excludes renovations but includes conversions. Conversion refers to any modification to an existing building involving the gain of dwelling units.

Answer to the previous trivia question: Born in Sweden on this day in 1833, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and also lends his name to the Nobel Prize.

Today’s trivia question: When was the last time the Bank of Canada’s policy rate was over 8%?