The Effect of Immigration on Canadian Housing Prices

Abstract

Using both simple and dynamic panel data analysis methods for Canadian provincial and municipal data between 1990 and 2014, this thesis finds that immigration did not have a significant effect on housing prices for both sets of data. Instead, owner accommodation costs was shown to have the highest positive effect on housing prices at both the provincial and municipal levels. However, the results do not completely rule out the possibility of long-term effects by immigration involving immigrants who have settled for a considerable length of time. There is also the possibility that any effect by immigration is limited to a few major cities, specifically Vancouver and Toronto, which is supported by external sources based on older data.