HALIFAX — When you line it up against other major Canadian cities, Halifax weathered the Covid-19 pandemic better than any other.
The city’s CAO and leaders from the Halifax Partnership gave an economic update to Halifax Regional Council this week — and it contained a fair amount of good news.
Jacques Dubé told council the city’s GDP contracted by 1.9 percent in 2020. That’s the lowest among major Canadian cities.
And projections show a strong GDP rebound is coming.
Dubé said Halifax’s GDP is expected to grow by 5.7 percent by the end of 2021, and then return to a “more normal” range of about 2 percent in the ensuing years.
The city also did very well attracting new residents during the pandemic.
Population growth in Halifax was down between July 2019 and June 2020 but only compared to the record-breaking previous year.
The period from 2019 to 2020 saw the city hit its second-highest level of population growth ever, driven largely by immigration.
Newly released population estimates for July 2020 to June 2021 also show strong population growth, although that is due more to people coming from other provinces, rather than other countries.
“What is different in this year is that international immigration, unsurprisingly, is down sharply while in-migration from other provinces, particularly Ontario, has jumped, Dube said.
Meanwhile, Halifax led Canadian cities in employment growth in early 2021. Unemployment did go up during the third wave in the spring but has since begun to drop again, sitting at 7.4 percent in August.
Long before the end of 2020, the city had also regained the jobs it lost at the beginning of the pandemic.
“In aggregate, we regained our Covid employment losses by the fall of 2020,” the Halifax Partnership’s Ian Munro said.
In May of 2020, Halifax had lost about 23,200 jobs. By September, it was already above pre-pandemic levels by 1,100 jobs.
Even after a dip during the third wave, Halifax still had 7,400 more jobs in August than it did before the pandemic hit.
There are, however, some concerning effects stemming from the city’s strong economic showing.
For one, house prices continue to rise sharply in Halifax.
The last few months had seen prices start to go down in the city. However, Munro pointed out the average cost of a home in September was just under $472,000. That’s a 6.6 percent jump from the month before, and well over 20 percent higher than September of last year.
The $472,000 price tag puts Halifax homes “close to the peak” of their highest prices ever.
Consumer goods are also getting more expensive. Halifax saw a year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 4.8 percent in August. The increase is 2.8 percent since January 2021.
Travel into the province is still lagging, as well.
Although not nearly as low as it was during the height of Covid-19, passenger counts at the Halifax airport remain well below pre-pandemic levels.
In August, 192,665 people passed through the airport. That’s compared to 486,551 who flew into or out of Halifax in August of 2019. There are still no cruise ship passengers coming to the city.
Overall, however, council appeared pleased with the news.
“It’s been great to see what’s happened in Halifax,” Mayor Mike Savage said after the presentation.
Trevor Nichols is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
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Halifax Economy Weathers Pandemic Better Than Any Other Major Canadian City - Huddle - Huddle Today
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