Peterborough attracting more people on the move
U-Haul survey finds we were the 12th most desirable city in Canada to move to in 2020
More people have been moving to Peterborough city and county over the last year than leaving, according to a new survey from rental moving truck company U-Haul.
The company’s data indicates Peterborough was considered the 12th most desirable city across Canada for do-it-yourself movers to relocate to, the survey found, up from 18th in 2019.
Arrivals accounted for 52.6 per cent of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Peterborough, the survey found.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an overall change in people’s circumstances and their need to move, according to Antony Grocott, marketing company president of Eastern Ontario for U-Haul.
“Our rental activity has changed, everybody’s lives have changed over the last several months in some form or another,” Grocott said. “Where they have had to make changes to their life, we have made sure we are there to help them out.”
U-Haul calculates its annual growth cities list based on the direction their customers are headed.
“The information we post comes from the activity of our customers, so wherever our flows are happening in relation to equipment buildup and where people are moving to,” Grocott said.
Peterborough is a desirable area for people to relocate to, said Rhonda Keenan, president and CEO of Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development.
“When we were doing our economic development strategy, well before we knew or heard of COVID-19, we had anticipated significant growth coming out to this region,” Keenan said.
She said the Peterborough area is projected to increase in population by 41 per cent over the next 25 years.
Since the pandemic began in March, she is now seeing more people moving to more rural areas since working from home has become the new norm.
“Because of remote working, people are able to make a decision that they can relocate to an area where they would like to live because they are able to work remotely,” Keenan said. “That is opening new opportunities for people.”
U-Haul’s survey found the numbers for people coming to the Peterborough area rose seven per cent over the last year, while departures only rose two per cent from 2019.
Keenan said her agency is preparing for more residential requirements in economic planning for the city and county.
(We are) trying to put our best foot forward regarding economic growth and that is what the whole part of the future ready economic development strategy was surrounding,” she said.
U-Haul said while their migration trends do not correlate to population of economic growth, the data is an effective way to gauge popularity of cities.
Keenan said with more people, it means more business and a greater draw on resources in the area for those businesses.
“It means we need to make sure we are protecting our employment lands and working with the city and the county so there are enough resources for businesses to be able to grow and expand when they need too,” she said.
There are trends showing more people moving out of the larger cities like Toronto and to more recreational properties, said Grocott.
“We are up over last year, but when COVID first started we were slow as anybody, but over the last little while it has picked up,” Grocott said.
“The trend of U-Haul trucks coming out of bigger cities like Toronto have always been there. But over the last six months it has been three times that.”
U-Haul’s survey numbers provide some validity for her agency’s forecasting models, Keenan said.
“It was nice that U-Haul can validate what we were anticipating or forecasting. I think what has changed with COVID is the speed at which people are looking to relocate,” Keenan said.
U-Haul’s survey found North Bay as the top Canadian growth city for 2020 for people relocating.
North Vancouver, Kingston, Belleville and the Barrie/Orillia corridor round out the top five. Ten of the top 15 growth areas are in Ontario.