British Columbia, New Brunswick are top growth provinces for DIY
movers
PHOENIX, Jan. 5, 2021 /CNW/ -- North Bay is the No. 1
U-Haul® growth city in Canada,
while British Columbia and
New Brunswick are the leading
growth provinces for do-it-yourself movers, according to Company
data analyzing migration patterns from 2020.
The Northeastern Ontario market
of North Bay, with its 53,000
residents along the east shore of Lake Nipissing, welcomed the
largest net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks of any city in
Canada over the past calendar
year.
North Vancouver, Kingston, Belleville, and the Barrie/Orillia corridor round out the top five growth
cities. Ontario boasts 10 of the
top 15 cities. Quebec has six
cities in the top 25. British
Columbia has five.
U-Haul growth cities are calculated by the net gain of one-way
U-Haul trucks (i.e. moving vans ranging in size from 10 to 26 feet)
arriving in a city versus departing from that city in a calendar
year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 2 million
one-way U-Haul truck-sharing transactions that occur annually in
Canada and the U.S. Neighboring
cities in certain markets are packaged together for U-Haul
migration trends purposes.
People coming to North Bay in
one-way U-Haul trucks increased 20% in 2020, while
departures rose only 3% year-over-year. Arrivals accounted for
57.5% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in North Bay, which ranked fifth for growth in
2019.
"People are packing up their U-Haul trucks and setting their
sights on North Bay," said
Wayne Curtis, U-Haul Company of
Central Ontario president. "The
cost of living is low, and the Ottawa government is sending jobs in this
direction. It's no surprise North
Bay is the No. 1 U-Haul Growth City in Canada."
Other notable spikes in arrivals were seen in Belleville (20%), Barrie/Orillia (22%), Vancouver (16%), Chilliwack (32%), Abbotsford (26%), Lethbridge (17%) and Nanaimo/Coombs (52%).
Province Growth Trends
Nine of 10 provinces saw a net
gain in U-Haul customers in 2020, with only Ontario witnessing more DIY movers leave its
borders.
BC and New Brunswick share
honors for top growth province, with each posting the same net gain
in U-Haul trucks. BC built upon its 2019 growth with a 3.3%
increase in arrivals versus a 2.6% increase in departures in 2020.
New Brunswick, a net-loss province
in 2019, saw 22.7% more arrivals year-over-year compared to just
7.8% more departures.
Aside from New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia (4.4% arrivals
increase, 1.7% departures decrease) boasts the largest
year-over-year turnaround after ranking ninth in 2019.
While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to
population or economic growth, the Company's growth data is an
effective gauge of how well cities are attracting and maintaining
residents.
U-Haul is the authority on migration trends thanks to its
expansive network that blankets all 10 Canadian provinces and the
50 states. The geographical coverage from more than 22,000 U-Haul
truck- and trailer-sharing locations provides a comprehensive
overview of where people are moving like no one else in the
industry.
Find local U-Haul stores and neighborhood dealers at
uhaul.com/locations.
2020 U-HAUL CANADIAN GROWTH CITIES
1.
|
NORTH BAY, ON
(5)
|
2.
|
NORTH VANCOUVER, BC
(1)
|
3.
|
KINGSTON,
ON
|
4.
|
BELLEVILLE, ON
(25)
|
5.
|
BARRIE/ORILLIA,
ON
|
6.
|
SUDBURY,
ON
|
7.
|
VANCOUVER,
BC
|
8.
|
CHILLIWACK,
BC
|
9.
|
CHATHAM, ON
(10)
|
10.
|
SARNIA, ON
(15)
|
11.
|
ABBOTSFORD,
BC
|
12.
|
PETERBOROUGH, ON
(18)
|
13.
|
ST. THOMAS, ON
(3)
|
14.
|
LETHBRIDGE,
AB
|
15.
|
BRANTFORD,
ON
|
16.
|
QUEBEC CITY,
QC
|
17.
|
SHERBROOKE, QC
(6)
|
18.
|
NANAIMO/COOMBS,
BC
|
19.
|
AIRDRIE,
AB
|
20.
|
SHAWINIGAN,
QC
|
21.
|
RIMOUSKI,
QC
|
22.
|
TROIS RIVIERES,
QC
|
23.
|
CHARLOTTETOWN,
PE
|
24.
|
SAINT-HUBERT,
QC
|
25.
|
SAINT JOHN,
NB
|
* Previous year's rankings in parentheses, if applicable
2020 PROVINCES RANKED BY MIGRATION GROWTH
T1.
|
BRITISH COLUMBIA
(2)
|
T1.
|
NEW BRUNSWICK
(10)
|
3.
|
ALBERTA
(4)
|
4.
|
QUEBEC (3)
|
5.
|
NOVA SCOTIA
(9)
|
6.
|
NEWFOUNDLAND and
LABRADOR (5)
|
7.
|
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
(6)
|
8.
|
SASKATCHEWAN
(7)
|
9.
|
MANITOBA
(8)
|
10.
|
ONTARIO
(1)
|
* Previous year's rankings in parentheses
About U-Haul
Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of
do-it-yourself movers, with a network of 22,000 locations across
all 10 Canadian provinces and 50 states. U-Haul Truck Share 24/7
offers secure access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day
through the customer dispatch option on their smartphones and our
proprietary Live Verify technology. Our customers' patronage has
enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 176,000 trucks,
127,000 trailers and 41,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers nearly
774,000 rentable storage units and 66.7 million square feet of
self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout
North America. U-Haul is the
largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive
aftermarket industry, and is the largest retailer of propane in the
U.S.
Contact:
Jeff Lockridge
Sebastien Reyes
E-mail: publicrelations@uhaul.com
Phone: 602-760-4941
Website: uhaul.com
SOURCE U-Haul