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Originally Posted by Hali87
Sort of. Immigration to Nova Scotia has increased somewhat in recent years but I think a bigger factor overall is that fewer people are leaving - anecdotally, it seems less common now for working-age people to move to Alberta (the job market is no longer as attractive) or Toronto (where it's difficult to find housing). A good proportion (probably 50% or more) of the post-secondary students in Halifax are from outside NS and they seem more likely to stay long-term than even 10 years ago. Part of this is that property is still considered "a good deal" here relative to most comparable parts of Canada (although I doubt this will be true 10 years from now).
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Don't have the data on hand right now but demographically it's mostly immigration. If I remember correctly internal migration is positive but small (maybe 1-2k a year), and births vs. deaths are pretty low too, while immigration is probably 5-6k. Last year, Halifax was one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, and I would imagine it stands hugely outside of the pack of Northeastern US cities that are sort of comparable (Portland, Providence, etc.).
NS used to have a very low provincial immigration cap not might higher than PEI. The raising of the cap was a major change for the province.
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Another factor is that a large proportion of development in the Halifax area is infill in the urban core/downtown, so this is captured easily in photos. Compared to most Canadian urban areas (and even 90s Halifax) there isn't very much "greenfield" development here. Part of this comes down to policy and economics and part of it is that most of our "fields" are steep ridges covered in dense forest.
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I have read that 50% of the value of construction in the metro area is on the peninsula, but I don't have a good source for that either.
Halifax is such a strange metro area. It has a lot of exurbs but also a
lot of large multi-unit residential buildings for its size. If you are going to live in one of those multi-unit buildings, I think it makes more sense to be in an urban neighbourhood than a suburb. Halifax is also relatively old with a more expansive than usual urban core that is suitable for infill. It might soon end up with an urban core with 150,000-200,000 residents (I don't mean urban area but rather walkable "inner city"), something you don't see much in smaller North American metros.
The Halifax model of a strong core and then quasi-rural suburbs actually makes a lot of sense in a smaller city. I think people in big cities would choose that option too but there's not enough land for exurbs within a good commuting distance of downtown. Halifax has a combination of desirable inner-city locations and plentiful, dirt cheap suburban land.