Alberta attracts approximately eight per cent of Canada’s international migration annually, but these newcomers have Canada's highest home ownership rate in Canada, with 45 per cent owning their home.
New immigrants to Alberta are also the most likely in Canada to believe home ownership is a good financial investment (90 per cent), according to a survey commissioned by Royal LePage. Half of the newcomers who buy a home in Alberta do so within three years of arriving.
Across Canada, new immigrants, defined as those who have arrived within the last 10 years, represent 21 per cent of homebuyers.
If the current international migration level is maintained, Canadian newcomers are expected to purchase 680,000 homes over the next five years. In 2018, international migration accounted for 80.5 per cent of Canada’s population growth, according to Statistics Canada. In Alberta, they will purchase an estimated 76,000 homes in the same period.
“Alberta is particularly appealing to newcomers from all over the world, and already established Canadians who wish to migrate to the province,” said Corinne Lyall, broker and owner, Royal LePage Benchmark.
Upon arriving in Canada, 19 per cent of Alberta newcomers own their first place of residence, 55 per cent rent, and 13 per cent live with family or friends.
Similar to the rest of Canada, the largest group of respondents is families with children (34 per cent), while 29 per cent come as sole applicants. The percentage of newcomers arriving in Alberta as sole applicants is significantly higher than the national average of 20 per cent. Fifty-two per cent of Alberta respondents say they have children in their household under 18 years old, the highest such percentage in Canada.
