Theories, and speculations continue to exist, and many of them about how Toronto's housing market is affecting Canadians across the country. This is what experts are calling the "Great Canadian Convergence."
Since the mid-2010s, Toronto's housing crisis has compelled families to relocate outside of the Greater Toronto Area. As remote employment becomes more common, we're witnessing a significant increase in the number of families relocating to Alberta and Atlantic Canada.
With the migration, property prices in Southern Ontario have been slowly rising for years, following the same pattern as those in the GTA.
Now, similar price hikes are happening in places like Halifax, where homes will cost $499,900 in 2022, up from $434,700 in 2021. It doesn't take that many families moving to rural Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island to transform a local housing market.
The phenomenon of families moving out of the GTA has, in some ways, been a positive thing for Ontario communities. Over the last 40 years, towns in rural Ontario have been trying to figure out how to keep schools open. Now, a lot of those schools are getting portables because so many kids are moving in. Places across Canada will soon experience something similar.
The Great Canadian Convergence is an opportunity to revitalize communities across Canada. Communities need to plan for the influx of families moving in or they will run into their own housing shortages. Initiatives like converting empty retail and office space into housing will help. Making zoning regulations more flexible to allow for duplexes and triplexes will also help.
