Business View Magazine l October 2022

24 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 10 Despite this, the future of the province is fairly bright. According to recent census data, over half of the province’s population is under 40 years old with Saskatoon having one of the largest relative shares of millennials in the country. Much of Saskatchewan remains the most affordable real estate markets in Canada, where the possibility of owning a single- family home is well within reach of young families. “What many people aren’t aware of is that the residential construction industry is still the single largest wealth builder for most families, providing much needed jobs, homes and economic investment to our province and municipalities,” Burgess explains, adding, “In Saskatchewan alone, our industry provides around $3.5 billion in economic investment and remains one of the largest and most significant contributors to GDP.” To summarize a cautionary tale, the challenges faced by the residential construction industry, rising interest rates, supply chain challenges, and labour market shortages could very well put Saskatchewan out of contention on the affordability scale soon. There is much work still to be done, but work that the SRHBA is committed to seeing through.