Alberta Housing: Record-Breaking Surge in 2025

ALBERTA — Alberta smashed its housing construction record in 2025 with 54,858 new starts, the UCP government announced January 21, 2026. That's 15% more than 2024 and beats the old mark of 48,962 set back in 2006.

The province wants credit. Low taxes, cut red tape, no rent control — that's the pitch from the UCP, which says Alberta led Canada in per capita housing starts for the second year running. (That 2024 ranking? Still unverified.)

Who Really Built This Boom?

ATB Financial tells a different story. Nearly half a million people moved to Alberta between early 2023 and September 2025. That flood of newcomers — from other provinces, abroad, on student and work visas — created demand the market had to meet.

About 70% of the new units were apartments and condos, not single-family homes. And 90% went up in Calgary and Edmonton.

The UCP points to Bill 20, passed in Spring 2024, as proof it slashed bureaucratic hurdles. The government's putting money behind the talk: $655 million over three years for the Affordable Housing Partnership Program, $113 million for its Stronger Foundations strategy, and another $131 million to fix up existing units.

The Maintenance Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About

NDP leader Naheed Nenshi isn't impressed. His party points to a November 2024 Auditor General report that flagged serious issues with the province's $2.3 billion affordable housing portfolio. The backlog on repairs keeps growing.

Alberta Municipalities likes more housing supply. It does not like Bill 20, which critics say tramples local control. The group wants a hard look at how affordable housing actually gets funded.

CMHC Chief Economist Mathieu Laberge threw cold water on the victory lap, too. Even with Alberta's record, the national pace of construction remains "far from the target" needed to fix affordability. Rents in the province? Still brutal.

The Slowdown Is Coming

ATB Financial expects housing starts to drop to around 45,000 units in 2026. Population growth is forecast to cool from 4.7% in 2024 to 1.5% in 2026. Fewer people moving in means fewer shovels in the ground.