In January 2024 the City of Edmonton enacted Zoning Bylaw 20001, replacing its
several low-density residential zones into a single Small Scale Residential (RS) zone
that generally permits a broader range of small-scale forms, with interior sites capped
at eight dwellings and additional allowances on qualifying corner sites. I study how
this city-wide upzoning affected the housing market using transaction- and permitlevel
data (permits 2009–2025; sales 2021–2025). Because the reform took effect on a
sharp, common date, I trace its effects with a dynamic event study and a regression
discontinuity in time that fix the treated geography to land zoned RS today, and I add
a difference-in-differences against non-upzoned detached homes to net out Alberta’s
coincident demand boom. Three results emerge. First, quality-adjusted detached
prices in RS areas show no pre-trend and then rise after the reform; the gross rise is
large (≈17% within six quarters), but once city-wide demand is differenced out the
upzoning-specific capitalization is a more modest 3–7%—still consistent with rapid
pricing of redevelopment option value. Second, residential permitting and especially
dwelling units added respond more slowly, with a flat pre-trend and a ramp that
becomes visible about ten months after the reform; by late 2025 the RS area had
recorded over 550 “multiplex” (3–8 unit) permits adding roughly 3,600 units. Third,
the supply response concentrates spatially in mature, central neighbourhoods. The
findings portray upzoning as a pipeline policy: development rights and their capitalized
value appear immediately, while delivered housing follows through a slower permitting
and construction process.
