Housing Canada's Seniors

Published on Oct 5, 2015

In recognition of both National Seniors day (on October 1st) and the recent release of data from Statistics Canada that show that people aged 65+ now outnumber kids under the age of 15 in Canada, we have compiled a series of long-range projections that consider the private and collective dimensions of seniors housing in Canada to 2041. You can read the full report here. These projections are companions to the ones we compiled last year, which detailed future private housing occupancy demand in Canada and its major metropolitan region to 2041. (Those projections can be found here.)

While baby boomers have had a significant impact on Canada’s private housing market since they began to enter it more than four decades ago, long and increasing life expectancies will see them continue to dominate Canada’s private housing markets for years to come. That said, with the leading edge of the baby boom turning 70 next year, a growing number of seniors are able and willing to remain in private accommodation for longer periods of time. This will increasingly require that communities, service providers, planners, and developers bring to private housing some of the attributes traditionally associated with "collective" forms of accommodation (think nursing homes and seniors' residences).

Speaking of which, the aging of the baby boom cohort will also bring about significant changes to collective housing occupancy. As increasing disability-free life expectancies and a decline in the gap between male and female life expectancies may result in a movement away from collective forms of housing for many of Canada’s youngest seniors, these forms of accommodation will become more important for accommodating Canada’s oldest residents.

Regardless of age, however, a seniors population that is expected to grow by 4.9 million people by 2041 will result in growing and changing demand for all types of seniors accommodation in the coming years. We hope you enjoy our latest report.