2011 Annual Review  
2011 proved to be another tremendous year for Hamilton by once again demonstrating that this city's economic resurgence is a trend and not an anomaly. Although, our City's building permit total did not surpass the record $1 Billion mark set in 2010, we still achieved solid numbers with our Non-Residential (Commercial & industrial) permits representing 21% of our annual total.   

There were many other positive signs of growth last year with the most visible being the presence of eight construction cranes on the Hamilton skyline representing the new St. Josephs Mental Health complex, the Staybridge Suites hotel, and the high-rise residential developments of Horizon Homes and Urban West Developments.

Some of the other great indicators included; a 3.4 % industrial vacancy rate; a 12% downtown office vacancy rate; one million s.f. of vacant industrial space filled with new companies; our Port generating $5.9 Billion in economic activity annually; over 300 new jobs created in the Creative Industries cluster; and an unemployment rate of 6.3 %.

The fact that our growth wasn't limited to one industry group but instead was representative of a wide range of sectors was the "icing on the cake" and the reason why the Conference Board of Canada gave Hamilton a 92% rating on the diversity of our economy.

To read the entire annual review, click here.