Alberta set housing starts record in 2025 for second year in a row

The Alberta government says 2025 was a record-setting year for housing starts in the province for the second year in a row.

Alberta says it was responsible for more than a quarter of all housing starts in Canada in 2025.

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Ground was broken on 53,000 housing units in Alberta in 2025, breaking the provincial record set the year before by 14 per cent.

It was the first time more than 50,000 units were started in a single year according to Jason Nixon, the minister of assisted living and social services. He said on Wednesday the province is on a “hot streak” because it got “out of the way” of the industry by updating building codes, creating construction working groups and a red-tape issues reporting portal, and addressing bottlenecks.

“When you see rent numbers and cost of housing go down at the rates that we’ve seen, that is a proof point that that strategy is working,” Nixon told reporters during a news conference at the legislature.

Edmonton’s average asking rent is about $400 lower than the national average.

The CEO of the BILD Alberta Association, which represents the various sectors of the industry, agreed these moves have helped and applauded the government’s refusal to enact rent control for fear of stifling supply.

“Any form of rent control, whether temporary or otherwise, would have sent the wrong signal, muted investment and reduced the very supply we needed most,” said Scott Fash, who took the podium after Nixon.

“Generations of Albertans will benefit because we’ve strengthened the long-term rental stock with more than 44,000 new rental units delivered over the past four years. That’s more than we built in the preceding 18 years combined.”

He expects rents to remain low as 22,000 purpose-built units come online.

While Nixon said these efforts have resulted in Alberta’s cities being among the most affordable in Canada, the Official Opposition’s critic for housing, Janis Irwin, says special attention is needed on affordable housing.

“Every day we hear from low-income Albertans who just can’t find a home that’s affordable and so the minister really needs to focus on building affordable housing. He also needs to address the crisis in homelessness,” she said.

The government says that it is spending $9 billion to support 25,000 more affordable units by 2031.

This year

Nixon and the industry members present at the news conference on Wednesday do not expect 2026 to be a record building year like 2025.

While the province will continue building on its work of 2025, it will also have to respond to external factors like tariffs and deregulation in the U.S., Nixon said.

Likewise, Fash said he expects 2026 to be a “transition year.”

“Definitely some moderation, a lot of unknowns. Whether that be tariffs, whether that be population growth – we know that’s going to dampen slightly. Another big thing we’re trying to monitor is the impact of the federal GST rebate on first-time home buyers. We were expecting that to have come in about a year ago. It’s yet to happen, so we’re kind of unclear what impact that’s going to have in terms of the purchase market,” he told reporters.

“Another health market, but nothing like the record-breaking levels we’ve seen.”

Housing starts across Canada in 2025 numbered more than 259,000, 5.6 per cent higher than in 2024.