Calgary’s explosive population growth has slowed down considerably in the last two years, according to the civic census released this week.

The city’s population grew by 22,950 to 1,042,892 between April 2007 and April 2008. The growth rate is down by over 5,000 people from the last census, mainly fuelled by a drop in migration to the city. From 2005 to 2006, for example, 25,557 more people moved to Calgary than moved away. That’s compared to 12,441 in the current census.

The fall in growth, combined with a construction craze, eased Calgary’s

housing crunch over the last year. The number of houses and apartments climbed by 12,686, and the vacancy rate grew to 2.23 per cent from 1.46 per cent. (AM)

Correction

The City of Calgary is looking to give historical status to the former Victory Outreach Centre church in Victoria Park. There are no plans to tear it down, contrary to information in a photo caption last week. Fast Forward regrets the error.