The housing affordability crisis in Canada appears to be forcing residents from moving out of pricier cities and even driving them out of the country, with recent immigrants the most likely to be considering relocation from the province they currently live in.

These are among the principal findings of a new survey released by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute (ARI) on Wednesday.

The survey noted that 28% of those sampled were thinking seriously of leaving the province they currently reside in, with that number rising to 39% of recent immigrants, those who have been in Canada for a decade or less.

While the majority, especially from urban centres like the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Metro Vancouver are eying a move to a relatively cheaper option within the country, like the province of Alberta, as many as 42% seeking new territory are contemplating exiting Canada for not just the obvious destination of the United States but even other countries.

In effect, nearly 12% of Canadians are mulling leaving the country, with approximately 7.5% looking at a destination beyond America.

“Canada’s immigration levels have reached record highs in recent years, but as more immigrants seek the Canadian dream from abroad, many who have arrived in recent years have discovered less of a dream and more of a nightmare,” ARI stated.

Shelter costs, whether for those with mortgages or renters, appear to be the principal driver of this migration. As ARI noted, “Housing costs push three-in-10 Canadians to consider relocation This evidently has led many Canadians to look for more affordable housing climates.”

Canadians who have come to the country in the past 10 years are much more likely to agree they are thinking of leaving the province they currently live in because of the cost of housing than others, the survey pointed out.

It also alluded to the report from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship that fewer permanent residents are becoming citizens in recent years, dropping from 75% who did so in 2001 to 45% in 2021.

Indians form the largest cohort of those admitted a permanent residents (PRs) to Canada. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data, till April this year, they comprised about 31% of new PRs (51,450 out of 164,265). Last year that figure stood at 29.6% (139,785 out of 471,810). In 2015, the comparative number was just 14.5% (39,340 out of 271,840).

“But many recent immigrants are departing the country because of the high cost of living, and especially housing, perhaps harming Canada’s reputation as a welcoming country for newcomers,” ARI warned.