Fort Macleod is keeping pace as Alberta leads the country in housing starts in 2025.
The Town of Fort Macleod has approved 45 housing units in the first seven months of 2025.
The province last week announced Alberta is on pace to surpass its 2024 record-setting year with 27,902 housing starts in the first two quarters of 2025.
“This sustained momentum highlights the continued collaboration between industry, the provincial government, and municipalities in reducing barriers and supporting housing affordability,” Scott Fash, chief executive officer of BILD Alberta, said in a news release.
So far this year, the Town of Fort Macleod has awarded development permits for five single detached homes, a two-unit duplex, a three-unit apartment and a five- building complex with seven units in each building for a total of 35.
In 2024, the Town of Fort Macleod saw a total of 75 housing units started.
That total included 11 single detached houses, a 12-unit apartment, a pair of two-unit duplexes, a pair of three-unit apartments, one six-unit apartment and four nine-unit complexes.
There were 65 housing starts in Fort Macleod in 2023, 13 in 2022, and seven in 2021.
A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report shows Alberta is leading Canada in housing starts.
The report indicates Alberta is building 30 per cent more than last year’s record-setting pace and outpaces development in every other province.
Despite making up less than 13 per cent of Canada’s population, Alberta built nearly a quarter of all housing starts in the country in the first half of 2025.
The province has been working to break down barriers and empower its housing partners as more people than ever before call Alberta home.
“Alberta’s record housing starts are a clear sign that our approach is working,” said Jason Nixon, minister of assisted living and social services. “While other jurisdictions are falling behind, Alberta continues to step up — leading the way in housing construction, cutting red tape and delivering results that matter.”
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report both Calgary and Edmonton are on course to break the records set last year with year-to-date housing starts increasing 32 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively.
Housing construction in Alberta’s mid-sized cities continues to be strong this year compared to 2024, with a 26 per cent increase in Lethbridge, a 112 per cent increase in Grande Prairie and a two per cent increase in Red Deer.
Lethbridge has 363 year-to-date starts, Grande Prairie has 235, and Red Deer has 284.
Forty-eight per cent of all new housing starts being rentals. There are 21,735 rental units under construction across Alberta.
A housing needs survey conducted by the Rural Development Network in co-operation with the town and Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) revealed at least 252 Fort Macleod residents are experiencing housing insecurity last fall — up from 84 in 2018 and 107 in 2020.
