Understanding shifts in the number of Canadians relocating is essential for industries focused on marketing to new movers. Relocation remains a key driver of purchasing decisions in areas like home improvement, financial services, and household management. Let’s explore what’s behind this decline and what it means for the market.
Cleanlist identified 26,774 new movers in Canada in February 2025. This resulted in a significant 33% decrease in new movers from February 2024 to February 2025 and a slightly lower 31.4% decrease month-over-month from January 2025 to February 2025.
Why New Movers Counts Are Slowing in 2025
Several key factors contributed to the significant drop in new movers in Canada at the start of 2025. In late 2024, our government announced a plan to reduce permanent and temporary immigration. This plan was put in place to alleviate pressures on housing, infrastructure, and social services. In addition, stricter temporary resident policies for international students and temporary foreign workers were implemented. This has had a direct impact on the number of new movers entering Canada.
Because of our reduced population growth resulting from lower immigration, The Bank of Canada is predicting slower economic growth. These collective factors may have been what contributed to the lower new mover counts to start 2025 in comparison to previous years.
February 2025 Data Highlights:
- All provinces saw a decrease in new movers from February 2024 to February 2025. The provinces that saw the biggest decrease in new movers year-over-year were Manitoba (-55.4%), Newfoundland (-54.4%), New Brunswick (-46.3%) and Quebec (-46.3%).
- All provinces saw a decrease in new movers from January 2025 to February 2025. The provinces that saw the biggest decrease month-over-month were Manitoba (-57%), Nova Scotia (-55.1%) and New Brunswick (-50.5%).
Why This Data Matters When Marketing to New Movers
Consumer spending drives sales across many industries and data sources gathered that spending accelerates significantly for consumers on the move. Some studies report that new movers increase their spending on a product or service by as much as 10x during the move cycle which lasts between two and six months. Savvy marketers and sales teams understand this behaviour and put their marketing efforts to work to target new movers and win more business.
In addition to the obvious packing and moving costs, new movers spend money in three main areas: home improvement, household management, and neighbourhood integration.
Money spent on home improvements typically includes renovations, furniture and appliances, paint, flooring, window coverings, decorating, alarm and security systems, decks, landscaping, roofing and siding, and HVAC systems.
Money spent on household management decisions is less obvious, but also important to mover audiences. They tend to review and reconsider their spending on things like insurance, financial planning and investments, internet and communication services, energy consumption, and even new vehicles.
Finally, money is spent on neighbourhood integration. New movers tend to change their shopping and entertainment habits while seeking out new stores and services in the neighbourhood for groceries, household supplies, landscaping and snow removal, child care, restaurants and entertainment venues.
Build Lead Lists Of New Movers For Competitive Advantage
If your target audiences include consumers moving to a new home or office sounds like your ideal customer profile, Cleanlist’s New Mover Data can provide high-quality leads based on a list of new movers. This list of ideal prospects with unique pain points for sales reps to address can give marketing teams a competitive advantage in their mover marketing strategy.
