Oshawa leading population growth, ranked a “best city” amid pandemic
Oshawa is becoming known as one of the fastest growing cities in the country.
According to Statistics Canada, the Oshawa Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) is leading the country in population growth.
Oshawa saw a 2.1 per cent population growth rate last year, followed by Halifax and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo both at two per cent.
A CMA is defined as an area consisting of one or more neighbouring municipalities with a 100,000 population, situated around a core of at least 50,000. The Oshawa CMA includes Oshawa, Whitby and Clarington.
The only other Ontario CMAs to make the top 10 were Barrie at 1.8 per cent, and Belleville at 1.6 per cent.
According to Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter, Oshawa is “one of the best cities to live, work and learn.”
“We offer excellent choice and value for homebuyers, connected transit, convenient access to services, excellent parks and trails, including Lakeview Park, and so much more,” says Carter. “Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we are pleased to report the city issued over $480 million in construction values last year and recorded eight residential construction records.”
Additionally, a recent HuffPost article cited Oshawa has one of the “best cities to move to for those moving out of Toronto to surrounding communities.”
The article ranked a number of cities within a 250 km radius of Toronto in the categories of housing pricing and employment rates and published a list of the five “best cities.”
Oshawa ranked fifth and was the only Durham Region municipality to make the list.
“The City of Oshawa is now by far and away seen as Toronto’s most attractive neighbor, and is impressively delivering national results as being much more than a hidden gem within the GTA,” says Councillor Tito-Dante Marimpietri, chair of the development services committee, noting as a community, Oshawa offers numerous modern amenities and dynamic services that make Oshawa the “choice in housing stock, investment opportunities and development prospects, which is substantively boosted by some of the most desirable neighbourhood locations anywhere in Canada.”
Marimpietri says over $360 million in residential construction, including 1,500 new residential units ranging from luxury custom homes, fabulous infill projects and affordable starter units last year alone, has “positioned Oshawa at the top of Canada’s class to continue leading the way as the community of choice for homebuyers.”
In 2020, the city issued $480.4 million in construction permits, including $363.9 million in residential construction. The city also received nine eight-building records, including eight for residential construction.
“Many have known for a long time what makes Oshawa special, but clearly the news and appreciation of what Oshawa is about is spreading – that it is a dynamic city, one of the best to call home, work, study, invest, raise a family, farm, retire, and most of all, enjoy the reality of all it has to offer,” says Councillor Rosemary McConkey, vice-chair of the development services committee.