Medicine Hat has large increase in housing starts in 2025

Calgary reached 27,684, Edmonton was 21,337, Red Deer reached 405, and Grande Prairie was 366.

Grande Prairie had the biggest percentage increase at 89 per cent, while Edmonton was up 16 per cent, with Calgary and Red Deer matching the provincial average of 14 per cent.

Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said that once again, Alberta is punching above its weight.

“Our province is shattering housing records and building at unprecedented rates, keeping pace as more people than ever before call our great province home,” Nixon said in a news conference on Wednesday.

The Lethbridge Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was one of the only communities to see new housing construction fall in 2025 compared to 2024.

The CMA includes the City of Lethbridge, as well as communities like Coaldale, Coalhurst, Picture Butte, Nobleford, and much of Lethbridge County.

In 2025, there were 620 housing starts in the Lethbridge CMA, dropping by 13.3 per cent compared to the year prior.

The provincial government also noted that Alberta communities make up six of Canada’s top 10 most affordable small and mid-sized rental markets – Medicine Hat is third, Grande Prairie is fourth, Red Deer is sixth, and Lethbridge is ninth.

During Wednesday’s news conference, Nixon spoke about affordable housing being a priority, but it was also noted that builds take time. He did reiterate, however, the government’s commitment to supporting an additional 25,000 affordable households by 2031.

Asked by Pattison affiliate rdnewsNOW about what the provincial government is doing to prevent gouging by landlords, Nixon explained that building up the supply is intended to quell that problem.

“This is the whole point of what we’re talking about today — the rent challenge is a supply challenge, and there are two ways you could address this. You could turn around and do something like rent control, which would stifle supply and in the long-term create a bigger rent challenge,” Nixon said.

“Or you can focus on building and creating a situation so that the industry can do its job. We did the latter, and in 2025, Alberta’s rent decreased by nearly twice the national average – 4.3 per cent down across the province.”

Nixon admitted there will still be people who fall through the cracks as far as affordability.

That’s why, he noted, the government has invested $9 billion to create those 25,000 affordable spaces; and it’s why, he continued, they subsidize 82,000 units yearly.

Scott Fash, CEO with BILD Alberta, also spoke at the news conference and took a stab at the rent query.

Fash said they saw a lot of activity in mid-sized cities over the last year.

“A lot of these purpose-built rentals take 12 to 18 months to get online, so we’re still seeing the lag of that effect in those cities where a lot of the product is now being built. You are going to see those rental rates come down over the next year to year-and-a-half – it just happened a lot faster in Calgary and Edmonton,” Fash said.

According to the National Rent Report published this month for December 2025 rates, the average rental rate for Medicine Hat was $1,390.

A one-bedroom space was $1,208, which was down 1.9 per cent from a year prior.

A two-bedroom unit was at $1,406, up 1.9 per cent year-over-year.

– With files from David Opinko

by Josh Hall, Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat has large increase in housing starts in 2025

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