Demographic Shock Exacerbates Affordable Housing Crisis, National Bank Says

The “demographic shock” of mass immigration is aggravating Canada’s affordable housing problem, the National Bank of Canada said in a new report. The working-age population—people aged 15 and older—increased by more than 100,000 in April alone, bringing total growth to more than 410,000 in the first four months of 2024, according to the May 15 “Hot Charts” published by National Bank Financial, Inc. (NBF), a subsidiary of the National Bank of Canada. NBF documents the population growth for this age group in the first four months of each year. The growth averaged 110,000 between 2007 and 2022, and consistently below 160,000 during that period each year. However, in the first four months of 2023, this number surged to 278,000 and then jumped 47 percent in the first four months of this year to 410,000....