Residential Mobility

Question

A researcher at McMaster is looking for information at the census tract level on residential movement for the Halifax CMA. That is, how many households from each CT moved to each other CT (or out of the CMA) during a time period. In addition, data on vacancy rates and new dwelling constructions per CT would be extremely helpful as well.

Answer

Referring to CT mobility, all data at that level of geo seems to be available by custom order only - no standard products exist. This seems consistent with STC's approach to confidentiality - I doubt the numbers are very high and the division more than likely would have to ensure that the cell values meet the confidentiality thresholds.

In terms of vacancy rates, the Census does not collect this information, therefore, the possibility of getting the data at the CT level is very low. I performed a search in CANSIM and you can get some vacancy rates at the CMA level - which is the closest I believe you will find. The same holds true for new housing construction - nothing available at the CT level.

Perhaps contacting the municipality of Halifax would reap better results?