Cost of housing in Canada

[mariomike]

Saw several posts yesterday in one of the Covid threads about the cost of housing in Canada. Decided to reply here, so as not to derail the Covid thread any further.

Housing cost may be due to lack of building materials in some places. But, where I live, it's the lack of land available for building detached homes.

Land, or lack of it, is the main thing in Toronto. As they say, "They're not making any more of it."

eg: The Toronto tiny house ( pictured ) sold for $1.8 million - $800,000 above asking.

As I understand it, the lack of available land in Toronto, is due to two things.

The Greenbelt, and strict zoning laws.

The Greenbelt is a protected area of farmland surrounding Toronto. Development is prohibited. This creates an island effect.

This "island effect" is compounded by Toronto's strict zoning laws. I live in a "designated neighborhood". That means only fully-detached housing is permitted.

The age old "supply versus demand" is what is driving up the cost of local housing. There is no more land available for building detached houses.

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[Bruce Monkhouse]

The 'Places To Grow Act' controls a lot of the land demand. It's a good thing so we don't get any more Mississauga's. I 'believe' each city/village/town has different numbers but I remember Guelph being 60/40. For every 60% of outgrowth there must be 40% of ingrowth.
A Doctor bought a closed down school that has a lot of greenspace onto my property and he just wanted to make the old school into professional offices and leave the greenspace. The city actually said no to his plan, unless it included 21 residential units of new build. Long story but the building is now a private Christian school with lots of greenspace still. City planners weren't happy since that meant they lost 'outspace' building units also.

A realtor buddy of mine told me[ before the recent spike in prices], with the size of my lot ,my place is worth at least $800,000, but the bulldozer would be pushing down my house the next day, with at least 2 houses going up on it. I guess it's the advantages of being the only family to live in the house since it was built in 1918.....course back then it was waaaaay out in the country, in fact even when I was a kid it was RR6 Guelph Township. Now its called the 'heart of the city'.

 

[mariomike]

Guelph has always been one of my favorite places. It certainly has grown over the years. Among other things, I like The Village By The Arboretum.

Be interesting to know what the property value was in 1918.

I guess it's sort of similar to cemetery plots. When we buried my father at Mount Hope, the man in the office chuckled that my grandfather paid $60 for it in 1927. No idea what it would be worth now.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Canada is in a housing bubble right now and if we don't get it under control it will look like the 2008 US financial crisis except actually hitting Canada as now we are quickly pushing ourselves into situations where the smallest interest increase will result in defaults for many.

New Zealand was going the same way, except they recently made it so you had to have a 20% down payment if it is a personal house and 40% if it is a investment property.

Causes of our bubble? Low interest rates which have people spending more than they can actually afford. Money laundering as we weren't vetting where the money came from to buy property so in places like Vancouver criminals didn't mind paying 2 million for a home as it is now 2m of clean money. Speculative buying where many people are buying just because they are convinced it is a easy way to make money. And like all easy money routes at some point someone is left paying the bill.

Where I am housing has gone up significantly with bidding wars taking place on homes, something that basically has never happened in my area. 200k homes are now 300k homes. Our population also hasn't gone up so this isn't just a supply and demand thing. Oh well, I have personally made sure I am safe for the future, lower mortgage than I can afford and paying it off quickly as I am terrified of the interest hikes which I am sure is just over the horizon.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Guelph has always been one of my favorite places. It certainly has grown over the years. Among other things, I like The Village By The Arboretum.

Be interesting to know what the property value was in 1918.

I'm about 5 minutes from the Arboretum.

That's easy, $1600,...... I still have the 2 page, hand written in pencil, building spec document and 4 receipts for $400 a piece.

 

[TCM621]

I'm attempting to purchase a house right now in Halifax and even they are having bidding wars. It is ridiculous.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I'm attempting to purchase a house right now in Halifax and even they are having bidding wars. It is ridiculous.

A couple of years ago, you couldn’t give away houses in the HRM...

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

And of course my Youngest is moving out there in a couple weeks so she can afford a house....sigh....

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Limited land is part of the issue, here in Vancouver the developers want access to the agricultural land reserve and industrial lands to build more Condo`s. The Port wants more land and transport corridors for trucking, containers etc. The other big problem is Vancouver is very desirable on the international market, which means people from elsewhere come here and buy property both as investments and part of a escape plan so they have a place to go if things go bad in the home country. The combination is driving prices up beyond local wages and small businesses struggle to find staff, as they can`t afford to pay wages that allow people to live here. I highly doubt either of my girls will end up living here and I see 3 out of 4 of my nieces and nephews have moved away. I personally don`t believe we can build our way out of this. I think it`s time for the Provincial government to support communities outside of the Lower Mainland so people and companies have more choices as to where to set up.

 

[kratz]

I'm attempting to purchase a house right now in Halifax and even they are having bidding wars. It is ridiculous.

We had been searching for the past 5 months and finally bought a place outside Truro, NS for $1 over asking.
We were fortunate., most people have to bid between $50K to $75K over to ensure a winning bid.

We will be paying $150 more per month in total bills compared to our current place.

 

[RyanWalker09]

Prices are insane in Hamilton Ontario I am one of those people trying to buy about a year now because my Landlord wants to sell her investment townhouse which she listed it for $650,00 but may get $800,000. Finding a place to purchase it difficult and renting it even more difficult and expensive...very frustrating. My lease doesn’t expired until October/21 Houses about 900 FT2 listed for $349,000 are selling for over $500,000. Any advice? Exactly what Danish describes Blind bidding...

 

[FSTO]

When I get back from the ME, I plan to live in a trailer until the bubble bursts.

My SM feed has a lot of folks being smacked by the Ottawa bubble crisis. Maybe if DND had not got out of the PMQ business (or were they forced to?) we'd wouldn't have all this angst?

 

[dimsum]

When I get back from the ME, I plan to live in a trailer until the bubble bursts.

My SM feed has a lot of folks being smacked by the Ottawa bubble crisis. Maybe if DND had not got out of the PMQ business (or were they forced to?) we'd wouldn't have all this angst?

I'm seriously wondering how junior NCMs live in Ottawa and Comox (and a few other places, but those two being particularly nuts for housing and no PLD).

I keep expecting another "Cold Lake panhandler" or a "family forced into bankruptcy" article in the media - I'm actually a bit shocked that it hasn't happened lately given the heat and light on the CAF.

 

[mariomike]

I keep expecting another "Cold Lake panhandler" or a "family forced into bankruptcy" article in the media - I'm actually a bit shocked that it hasn't happened lately given the heat and light on the CAF.

I think it was politely described as "busking".

Reminds me of an infamous photo of the president of the Toronto Police union sitting cross-legged on the Yonge St. strip, in uniform, holding out a tin cup.

One of his most memorable struggles occurred in 1969. When stonewalled by a seemingly uncaring and unresponsive Police Commissioner, he told reporters that Toronto’s finest had been reduced to begging for fair pay and benefits. He then posed for his historic photograph (which appeared on the cover of Toronto Life Magazine) sitting cross legged on a sidewalk with a tin cup in hand. The action proved an embarrassment to the intransigent police commissioner and brought Police Act charges against Brown and a call for his dismissal from the force… but it also secured an 85 per cent pay raise. This changed the way (police) wage and job negotiations were done in all of Canada

He went on to become Chief of the Waterloo Regional Police.

 

[SupersonicMax]

I'm seriously wondering how junior NCMs live in Ottawa and Comox (and a few other places, but those two being particularly nuts for housing and no PLD).

I keep expecting another "Cold Lake panhandler" or a "family forced into bankruptcy" article in the media - I'm actually a bit shocked that it hasn't happened lately given the heat and light on the CAF.

I think it's because the market is a lot worse this year. We may well see those this year...

 

[mariomike]

This caught my eye,

The + average + selling price of a detached house in the City of Toronto has sailed past the $2 million mark.

Toronto home prices hit record, average selling price of detached house pushes $2M mark

Cost of a detached house in Toronto sails past $2 million average.

www.thestar.com

 

[OceanBonfire]

Things aren't gonna get better, especially in BC where building permits and residential investment have decreased. More and more people still choose to live in urban areas and in downtowns:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1488871086120919041

https://twitter.com/x/status/1491770186835312648

https://twitter.com/x/status/1492574302352388103

https://twitter.com/x/status/1497013526027714562

https://twitter.com/x/status/1491453030591770624

 

[kev994]

A 2+2 bungalow in Trenton just went for 995. It was fairly new and apparently a custom home, but not a big home.

 

[Remius]

Fairly certain my son will inherit his first home before he can ever buy one.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Fairly certain my son will inherit his first home before he can ever buy one.

Unfortunately true, my youngest had planned to move to Halifax as, at least there she had enough for a down payment, but then that area exploded just before she got there.