The Most Common Kind of Home in Each Canadian Province

Canada is a vast country divided into ten provinces, each with its own distinct characteristics. Some are well-known for their urban metropolises, while others are well known for their natural beauty and wilderness. Others are a hybrid of the two. Some provinces have a higher proportion of young people and families, while others have a more diverse demographic mix.

And these factors may influence the types of homes that people in these provinces prefer. Apartments were the most common, accounting for more than half of all units, while single-family homes accounted for at least one in every four.

Often trailing behind these are row houses, which share common walls with other units, and semi-detached homes, duplex units often called semis, which share a common wall. While this does not reflect every province in the country, it is generally indicative of most Canadian’s home preferences.

So, what factors influence the most popular type of housing in each province? Using Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data. We calculated which home types were completed and sold the most in each province. The data focuses on new housing and adheres to the criteria of a home that was built, completed, and sold. Provinces are listed in the order in which they built and sold the most total units.

Ontario

In Ontario, apartments are the most common type of home, followed by single-family homes. Ontario is Canada’s most populous province, containing the country’s capital, Ottawa, as well as its most populous city, Toronto.

This density, as well as the province’s predominance of large cities, may explain some of the region’s preference for apartment living. Because space is limited in cities, apartments are more likely to exist than in rural areas. Most residents in Toronto, for example, live in apartments, and the vertical growth of apartment buildings has only increased in recent years.

Quebec

Major cities in the province of Quebec have helped ensure apartments remain the most popular type of dwelling in the region by quite a wide margin. Montreal is one such city. Most of the city’s residents live in apartments, with one unique factor contributing to apartment living beyond the general tendency of cities to have more apartments:

Much of Montreal was built when apartment buildings were the standard type of housing. As a result, the city has an oversupply of apartments built decades before detached single-family homes became common in the rest of Canada. As a result, rents are lower than in other major Canadian cities.

British Columbia

The Vancouver metropolitan area is located in British Columbia. The majority of Vancouver residents live in apartment buildings, which contributes to the province’s larger share of apartment dwellers. And it’s possible that this isn’t entirely due to personal preference.

According to studies, the affordability of homes in British Columbia has been steadily declining. As a result, many people, particularly young people, cannot afford single-family detached homes, forcing them to live in apartments across the province for longer than they would like.

Alberta

Alberta is one of Canada’s three so-called “prairie provinces,” meaning it has more wide-open, undeveloped space and less population density than some of Canada’s other provinces. This relative spread and spaciousness have translated to more of the province’s residents living in single-family dwellings than any other type of housing.

Living in Alberta may thus be a desirable option for young families looking for an affordable way to get more space than they would in a city. The province has the youngest median age of all the provinces, with an average age of 39 years.

Manitoba

Manitoba is Canada’s Fifth-most populous province, and it is known for having a highly varied topography, including mountain ranges, prairie grass, and freshwater lakes. The province was originally a homesteading destination for settlers, but it has recently trended toward urbanization.

Manitoba is the only province with more than half its population in a single city-in this case, Winnipeg. This concentration within one urban center and the overall trend toward urbanization have helped apartments edge out single-family dwellings as the province’s most common type of housing.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada’s Maritime provinces. It is also the country’s second-densest province and second-smallest province by area. As such, it’s no surprise that apartments make up a significant portion of the country’s dwellings. Dense areas often have more apartments because they can be built vertically.

When you multiply the density by the province’s small land area, you get the ideal conditions for apartment construction. However, much of Nova Scotia is rural; aside from major cities like Halifax, villages are small, with single-family dwellings accounting for more than one-third of all housing.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan, one of Canada’s two landlocked provinces (the other being Alberta), is mostly rural. With its famous and well-preserved natural beauty covering much of its land area, the province has seen less urbanization than other parts of Canada.

As a result, single-family homes have remained the most common type of housing in the province. Its primary industries include farming, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting. Because each of these economic activities necessitates large swaths of land, there is less incentive in the province to shift toward apartments or other housing types.

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of the more rural provinces in Canada. Approximately 83% of the province is forested. And, unusually for Canada, only about half of its people live in cities. Despite its more rural nature, the province’s most common type is almost evenly split between apartments and single-family homes. This could be because apartments are more affordable than houses. In New Brunswick, the average single-family home price has risen 20.9% in the last year.

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is Canada’s smallest but most densely populated province. While population density typically leads to vertical housing growth in apartments, the primary type of housing on PEI is evenly divided between apartments and singles.

One possible explanation? Apartments tend to cluster in cities, and there aren’t many on Prince Edward Island. Charlottesville is the province’s main large city, and it is here that many apartments are likely to be clustered.  The province is also known for its unspoiled coastline and farmland, where single-family homes are far more common.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador is Canada’s most easterly province. And unlike Canada’s other provinces, almost no one in Newfoundland and Labrador lives in an apartment. Instead, single-family homes are far and away the most popular in the province. One reason for this is likely Newfoundland and Labrador’s rural nature.

People in rural areas, like those in the United States, are more likely to live in single-family homes rather than apartments. And, of all the Atlantic provinces in Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador has the most rural residents.