Canada is studying Swedish housing programs as it looks to supercharge modular home construction — and Swedish companies might be looking to cash in.

A March 6 briefing note prepared for Canada’s housing minister reveals federal officials have met repeatedly with Swedish bureaucrats, builders and companies to discuss how to speed up Canadian construction of prefabricated homes.

The note hints that could lead to more direct Swedish investment in Canada’s housing market as the country seeks to build as many as 500,000 new homes every year.

“These exchanges may also help inform a potential future ministerial engagement with Sweden focused on modular and industrialized housing construction, providing an opportunity to deepen partnerships with Swedish firms, researchers, and innovators and explore opportunities for collaboration and investment in Canada’s housing sector,” the note said.

Last year, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $13 billion investment in Build Canada Homes, a new agency tasked with constructing affordable housing across the country. One of the agency’s missions is finding ways to build homes quickly and cheaply, including through modular housing, wherein parts of a home are prefabricated in factories before being assembled on a permanent site.

Housing Minister Gregor Robertson has expressed his admiration for Sweden’s longstanding modular housing industry. A recent analysis estimated about 45 per cent of all new homes in that country are prefabricated. Canada’s industry is nascent in comparison. In British Columbia, an advocacy organization estimates just 4.5 per cent of new builds are modular homes.

Robertson met with his Swedish counterpart Andreas Carlson last October, writing on the social media platform X that they hoped to “exchange ideas on how we can drive lasting progress.” The briefing note prepared for Robertson suggests the collaboration hasn’t been limited to one sit-down chat.

As of March of this year, federal officials had also met with members of Sweden’s national housing board, property owners and homebuilders to discuss modular housing.

“Canada needs to build more than five million housing units, and off-site or modern methods of construction are seen as a key way to accelerate delivery,” said notes from a February 2026 meeting.

“Achieving this will likely require a mix of manufacturing models, including smaller regional factories that reduce transportation costs and some larger plants where feasible,” the notes said. “The strong presence of Swedish firms on the call highlights growing international interest in Canada’s housing market. Swedish entry is likely to occur through partnerships or joint ventures, aligning with a ‘Buy Canadian’ approach.”

The IJF contacted Sweden’s embassy in Canada for comment but did not hear back by publication time.

A spokesperson for Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada declined to say if the talks would lead to changes in government policy.

“While HICC does not speculate on potential or upcoming policy decisions, the lessons learned from engagement with experts and counterparts helps inform housing strategies and approaches that benefit all partners in our work to build up Canada’s housing industry,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

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