Here’s another look at rowhouses, their distance from transit, and their actual prevalence in neighbourhoods. Turns out, 8 unit rowhouses are not popping up everywhere, they’re actually quite rare when compared to the number of properties in each neighbourhood. When they are built, they’re built much closer to transit than other types of housing in other neighbourhoods. Furthermore, the neighbourhoods that have been a focus in the media, and council have lost upwards of 30% of their population since 1971. There is not a risk of overdevelopment. Rather there is a risk of underpopulation for the services, accessibility, and desirability of these neighbourhoods.
Data
I bring in census data, but otherwise, the data is the same as last blog post, except building permits are from January 1, 2024 to July 3, 2025.
Plexes are being built near transit
Since 2024, 7-8plexes are being built near transit. 43% of 7-8plexes were built within 800m of a current or future LRT stop. This may not seem like a high percentage, but compared to past years, and all other types of housing, this is a big improvement. Historically, less than 25% of all housing in Edmonton has been built within 800m of LRT. Figure 1 shows how much closer to transit 7-8plexes are being built.
Not many 7-8plexes in any one neighbourhood
I found in my last blog post that neighbourhoods were still changing really slowly. Here, I have brought in population change data from 1971-2021 to show that the neibhourhods seeing a handful of rowhouse development have lost upwards of 30% of their population over the last 50 years.
I want to highlight some neighbourhoods that have been focused on in the news, by council, and by administration in Table 1. The numbers for 7-8plex permits and for total properties are filtered for the RS zone only to be reflective of the actual development potential of this zone.
You’d think by some of the rhetoric coming out of Crestwood, for example, that there are 7-8 plexes going up everywhere, on every block, next to everyone. But, this is misleading. Only 4 out of 886 properties have been permitted to redevelop into these 7-8plexes since the zoning by-law renewal, only 0.46% of the properties! Meanwhile, Crestwood has lost 30% of its population over the last 50 years. Crestwood is not at risk of overdevelopment: it is in fact the exact opposite. Crestwood needs more housing to repopulate the neighbourhood.
| Selected neighbourhood 7-8plex development profiles | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neighbourhood | Ward | Number of 7-8 unit permits | Total number of properties | % of properties redeveloped into 7-8plex | Population 2021 | Population 1971 | % change in population |
| Crestwood | Nakota Isga | 4 | 866 | 0.46% | 2,415 | 3,445 | −30% |
| Glenwood | Nakota Isga | 20 | 993 | 2.01% | 4,960 | 5,650 | −12% |
| Grovenor | Nakota Isga | 10 | 943 | 1.06% | 2,585 | 3,100 | −17% |
| Inglewood | Anirniq | 12 | 1,067 | 1.12% | 6,945 | 7,550 | −8% |
| Mckernan | papastew | 4 | 883 | 0.45% | 2,580 | 2,840 | −9% |
| Parkview | sipiwiyiniwak | 0 | 1,400 | 0.00% | 3,375 | 5,735 | −41% |
| Prince Charles | Anirniq | 12 | 524 | 2.29% | 1,425 | 2,080 | −31% |
| Westmount | O-day'min | 12 | 1,125 | 1.07% | 6,165 | 7,450 | −17% |
| Jacob Dawang, City of Edmonton Open Data, StatCan Census | |||||||
Search up your own neighbourhood in the table below.
Note
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