The Liberal government’s recent reduction of immigration levels will reduce the need for new housing units nearly in half by 2030, according to a new report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
“Assuming that the population evolves in line with the government’s projection, we estimate that the 2025-2027 immigration levels plan will reduce Canada’s housing gap in 2030 by 534,000 units (45 per cent),” the report published Friday said.
“After accounting for the government’s new immigration plan, we estimate Canada’s housing gap in 2030 to be 658,000 units,” on top of the number of housing units expected to be built by then, the report said.
The federal government announced last month that it was cutting the projected number of new permanent residents from 485,000 this year to 395,000 in 2025, with further cuts to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.
Under the previous plan released a year ago, Canada was expected to admit about 500,000 in both 2025 and 2026.
When Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the cuts in October, his office said it would create a 0.2 per cent population decline over the next two years and also “reduce the housing supply gap by approximately 670,000 units” over the next few years.
More to come.
