Toronto still one of the fastest growing cities in North America – even with the impact of COVID-19

By NextHome Staff
June 24, 2020
Toronto was the fastest growing metropolitan area in Canada and the U.S. last year, overtaking Dallas-Fort Worth Arlington, Tex., according to new data from the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development (CUR) at Ryerson University.[caption id="attachment_47768" align="alignnone" width="600"]Downtown Toronto Photo: Wayne Karl[/caption]And even though Toronto will take a hit as a result of COVID-19, it is still expected to be one of the top cities in North America.Toronto was the only Canadian metropolitan area in the top five; Montreal was sixth and Vancouver twelfth.Metro Toronto grew by 127,575 persons in 2019, outpacing Dallas-Fort Worth Arlington, which grew by 117,380 persons, to become the fastest growing metropolitan area in all of the U.S. and Canada.

Short-term impact

The research for this latest report was conducted prior to COVID, covering the period of July 2018 to July 2019, so the results are likely to change over the next year, CUR says."COVID is estimated to drop immigration (to Toronto) by half this year," Diana Petramala, senior CUR researcher told Condo Life. "Therefore, this will likely push Toronto down the list of fastest growing cities."Toronto's main strength is immigration, whereas places like Dallas are benefiting from millennials leaving more expensive areas like New York. Toronto, however, will continue to do better than New York, Chicago and Los Angeles – areas that are seeing large outflows of millennials in search of more affordable housing and jobs."The impact of COVID in Toronto will be short term, Petramala adds. "Immigration is still allowed, so as other countries move out of lockdown and processing offices open up and airlines start flying again, you will like see a snap back in immigration."

Outpacing New York

Toronto, in fact, had almost three times the population growth from immigration as New York in 2019. Both regions experienced a loss in resident population to other areas (domestic net migration), but the rate was four times faster in New York.In terms of population growth on a city basis, as opposed to the metropolitan area (GTA), Toronto (45,742 persons) and Montreal (31,565) represented the two fastest growing cities in all of the U.S. and Canada over the study period. Overall, Canadian cities represented 11 of the top 20 central cities in the U.S. and Canada in population growth, with Calgary, Ottawa and Edmonton placing fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.While the city of Toronto's population grew by 45,742, New York City's decreased by 53,264.

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