2021 marked the second year of the global pandemic, and this new normal has shifted both the way Canadians live and where they live. As over four million Canadian workers continue to do their jobs from home in 2021, many have shifted their plans to settle in major urban centres to smaller cities where their money will buy more square footage to live and work.
While a recent Statistics Canada report indicates that the East Coast is outpacing the Prairies for migration to major metropolitan areas, a report by U-Haul suggests that for Canadians looking to move to a smaller town, Alberta and rural Ontario host the most moved-to cities.
According to U-Haul’s annual migration trends report, Canadians who chose the DIY approach to moving are heading to Alberta and Northern Ontario.
Top Province for U-Haul Movers: Alberta
Although Stats Can reports that Alberta’s growth rate has dropped from 11.6% in 2011 to 2016 to 4.8% from 2016 to 2021, U-Haul’s report indicates that in 2021, Alberta saw a 33% rise in the arrival of one-way U-Haul trucks, and more than half of all U-Haul traffic was inflow.
Canadians choose Calgary as their top destination of all cities and towns in Alberta. The arrival of new Canadians in the city has led to a rise in home prices as demand outpaces supply. In January 2022, the average cost of a home in Calgary was $510,701, an 8% increase year-over-year.
Most Moved-to Cities in Ontario See Growth as Canadians Make Working-From-Home Permanent
Alberta took the prize for the most moved-to province in Canada. That said, many of the destinations that made U-Haul’s list are in Ontario, but they were smaller communities. While it’s impossible to say with certainty what’s causing Canadians to move, we think sky-high prices in the Greater Toronto area are involved. However, these smaller communities offer respite from those prices and more square footage for your buying power.
What Canadians want in their homes has changed. Open concept is out, and dedicated space to work, relax, and exercise is in. In a recent Zolo survey, 34% of Canadians said that the size or layout of their homes was an issue during COVID restrictions. We think this is a major driver in the shift of where people are choosing to live.
Canadians can usually find more square footage and space for home offices in these smaller communities for an affordable price. Here are the top 13 most moved-to cities in Ontario that U-Haulers moved to and their average home prices.
Changing Migration Patterns Means Affordable Cities Seeing Home Price Increases
We know that Canadians are moving further afield in search of affordable accommodations, but will this trend continue? It’s tough to predict the future, especially with the unknown factor of COVID and subsequent inflation. We know that popular cities like Calgary and North Bay have posted large year-over-year price gains. Other urban centres, like Moncton and Halifax, are seeing similar price appreciation.
While these price gains are significant, none of the areas listed are as expensive as the major urban centres of Canada like Greater Toronto or Metro Vancouver. For this reason, we think that as long as the needs of Canadians are no longer met in dense cities, the most moved-to cities in Ontario and Alberta will continue to see new families arriving in those familiar cube-shaped vans.
