Calgary Builds More, Edmonton Builds Bigger
April 8, 2026
In 2024, Calgary issued 7,186 new construction permits, the highest figure since at least 2018 and nearly double its starting level. The city had never approved construction at this pace. In Edmonton, the story is different: fewer projects, but much larger ones. What the data from 725,000 Alberta permits reveals is two cities responding to the same demographic pressure in opposite ways.
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new construction permits in Calgary (2024)
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total value in Edmonton (2025, all-time record)
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average value gap per permit (Edmonton vs Calgary)
Unprecedented expansion
Calgary shows a construction permit trajectory unlike anything seen recently in the data. In 2018, the city issued 3,768 new construction permits. By 2024, that figure reached 7,186, a jump of 91%. Even after the pullback in 2025 (to 5,834), the level remains 55% above 2018.
New construction, 2018–2025
Calgary vs Edmonton: number of permits per year
Permits classified as new_construction in BuildData (field permit_type_canonical). Calgary: Socrata data (socrata.calgaryopendata.ca). Edmonton: Socrata data (data.edmonton.ca).
This surge is not uniform across Calgary's territory. The neighbourhoods concentrating the most construction activity are all greenfield developments on the city's northeast and southeast periphery: Cornerstone (1,765 permits from 2022 to 2025), Livingston (1,472), Glacier Ridge (1,303), Mahogany (1,249), Pine Creek (1,237). Calgary is sprawling outward, driven by sustained interprovincial migration from the rest of Canada.
Calgary neighbourhoods, 2022–2025
Top 10: new construction volume by district
Permits new_construction grouped by neighbourhood (neighbourhood), January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2025. Source: BuildData (socrata.calgaryopendata.ca).
Projects getting bigger
Edmonton's construction data tells a different story. The permit count there is more moderate and volatile: peak at 5,589 in 2022, drop to 3,950 in 2023, rebound to 5,959 in 2024. But the total construction value reached an all-time record of $4.04B in 2025, up from $2.65B in 2018, a 52% increase over seven years.
What makes the Edmonton trend particularly striking is the evolution of average value per permit. In 2018, a new construction permit in Edmonton was worth an average of $544,787. By 2025, that figure reached $723,179, a 33% increase. Edmonton is not just building more; it is building bigger.
Two cities, two logics
The comparison of average value per permit reveals the most telling gap between the two cities. Calgary maintains a remarkably stable average around $320,000 throughout the 2018–2025 period. Edmonton, by contrast, has seen its value per permit increase continuously since 2020.
Average value per new construction permit, 2018–2025
The gap between Calgary and Edmonton is widening
Average value calculated on permits with a declared value (>$0). Permits with no value are excluded from the calculation. Source: BuildData.
In 2025, a permit in Edmonton is worth 2.3 times a permit in Calgary ($723,179 vs $317,217). This gap reflects a different urban mix: Edmonton has a higher proportion of multi-family, commercial and institutional projects in its new construction volume. Calgary, by contrast, is dominated by single-family suburban housing, which costs less per unit.
What permits tell us
This divergence in urban logic is not unique to Alberta, but it is particularly visible there. Calgary and Edmonton resemble neither Toronto, nor Vancouver, nor Montreal. Alberta builds its own way: high volumes and affordable prices in Calgary; large-scale projects and rising per-unit value in Edmonton.
Building permits are a thermometer for urban strategy. Calgary favours accessibility: many projects, a stable cost per permit, a suburban format. Edmonton favours scale: fewer permits, a larger investment per project. Neither city resembles the eastern metropolises. The same demographic pressure, shared by both, produces distinct urban responses.
Data from 725,000 Alberta permits tells the story of two cities responding to the same demographic pressure, but not in the same way. Calgary chooses volume: 7,186 permits in 2024, double 2018. Edmonton chooses scale: a record $4.04B in value in 2025, with projects worth on average 2.3 times those in Calgary.
Methodology
Data sourced from the BuildData API (construction database canada), which normalizes permits from municipal open data portals. Figures cover only permits classified as new_construction (field permit_type_canonical).
Average value per permit excludes records with a null or zero value (not declared). Total annual value includes all new_construction permits with a declared value. Neighbourhoods (Calgary, section 1) correspond to the neighbourhood field as normalized by BuildData.
Sample query to replicate the analysis:
GET /permit?municipality=calgary
&permit_type=new_construction
&issued_after=2024-01-01
&sort_by=date&limit=500
The municipality, permit_type, issued_after and issued_before parameters let you create your own time slices. 17 cities, daily updates, 100 free requests per day.
Access building permit data for 17 Canadian cities, including Calgary and Edmonton.
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