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Cost of housing in Canada

Doesn’t the GO Train do the Sault?
Laughing Out Loud Lol GIF by Minions
 
Doesn’t the GO Train do the Sault?

Why don't you look at the map, if interested enough to ask? < ROFL emoji.

Considering I can get to Union in 8 minutes via Union - Pearson Rail, it would be pretty stupid to drive to Saullt Ste. Marie.

If rail service was available.

That, and the convenience of 17-minute rail service to Pearson are a couple of reasons house prices may be a bit higher here than other places.
 

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A lot of CO2 from a seat share of an airplane! 🍃
 
Believe it or not the housing prices in the Sault should be lower still. The only reason they are as high as they are is a bunch of numbered companies bought up a ton of houses and are leaving them unoccupied as ‘investments’. Just strengthens my belief private companies should not be allowed to own single dwelling/non-rental designed homes.

That being said it wouldn’t remain low long if people moved there. It is only so low due to the fact it used to have 85k pop and is now sitting around 70-75k population. If even a fraction of those seeking houses in Toronto were to move there the housing numbers would become similar to Torontos.
 
The most affordable cities in Ontario to buy a home.

Heh. The 9th and 10th ranked "cities" are actually a 4 county rural region.

In January 2020 they were at ~350k. January 2016 ~240k. $20/hr manufacturing/retail jobs created home owning families.
 
That being said it wouldn’t remain low long if people moved there. It is only so low due to the fact it used to have 85k pop and is now sitting around 70-75k population. If even a fraction of those seeking houses in Toronto were to move there the housing numbers would become similar to Torontos.
Losing St. Mary's Paper and having the Algoma Steel (under its assorted versions) circling the drain for several years were big contributors to that drop. The populations of all of northern Ontario's cities have, at best, been stagnant for the past few decades.
 
Losing St. Mary's Paper and having the Algoma Steel (under its assorted versions) circling the drain for several years were big contributors to that drop. The populations of all of northern Ontario's cities have, at best, been stagnant for the past few decades.
Yeah, Mary’s employed at least 500 and Algoma employed 12k until the mid 90s when automation allowed them to cut down to 4k. More technology means by the end of the decade Algoma will only employ somewhere in the range of 1200-1600 employees.

That drop also contributed to the drug crisis in the city which its only recently everywhere else caught up. When you lose 8-9k low skill high paying jobs it effects everyone.
 
The cost of housing was #1 in their "Top 10 Reasons to Move to Sault Ste. Marie"
1) "we knew we’d never be able to buy anything in Toronto."

The ad also says there are lots of good jobs available.

Sounds like a place for young people to find affordable housing, work, and raise a family. From the ad.

We were only there a couple of days as tourists. Beautiful area.
 
The cost of housing was #1 in their "Top 10 Reasons to Move to Sault Ste. Marie"
1) "we knew we’d never be able to buy anything in Toronto."

The ad also says there are lots of good jobs available.

Sounds like a place for young people to find affordable housing, work, and raise a family. From the ad.

We were only there a couple of days as tourists. Beautiful area.

People wonder why there is an abundance of hate...
A friend of mine moved there a couple of years ago and I was surprised at the cost of housing. I used to live near there a few decades ago and love the area.

One would hope people considering moving to the area would do their employment homework first, rather than just rely on 'there's lots of jobs here'.

I'm not sure proximity to Sault Michigan is much of a selling point.
 

I mean in theory if you can find the land sure. Do we not have the workers here already, their idea to bring in even MORE people into Canada?

EV battery factories deserve the priority though...
 

I mean in theory if you can find the land sure. Do we not have the workers here already, their idea to bring in even MORE people into Canada?

EV battery factories deserve the priority though...
The factory already exists in Wingham and its called Royal homes: multiple models to choose from including a triplex. The workers are trained and already in place. So all he has to do is designate the land to be built upon, obtain the correct zoning, and its good to go. Construction on the foundations can start as soon as the contract is signed.
 
Royal Homes is just one 'prefab' home builder in Ontario alone. No doubt some aspects could be accelerated, and I don't know their production volume but they certainly aren't auto assembly lines. These companies already have their customer base and I imagine would be thrilled to have government-backed competitors brought online. Since they require relatively large production and storge footprints, their upfront costs would be much higher than a GC and a bunch of individual trades. They are typically custom builders and I would wonder how well they would mix in with the tract developers.

Servicing of lots would remain a problem. This is still a municipal problem and matters of capacity in services, particularly sewage, is a multi-year problem in many areas, not to mention the funding. Ontario outlawed 'development charges', so I question where they would get the multi-millions to prepare the lots.

I wonder about the immediate resort to foreign workers. Most aspects of home building are skilled trades.

In many urban areas, the building of single family detached homes is a matter of sprawl. They require more land which, in many areas, means land permanently removed from agriculture. More low density development requires more costly infrastructure to support it.
 
Royal Homes is just one 'prefab' home builder in Ontario alone. No doubt some aspects could be accelerated, and I don't know their production volume but they certainly aren't auto assembly lines. These companies already have their customer base and I imagine would be thrilled to have government-backed competitors brought online. Since they require relatively large production and storge footprints, their upfront costs would be much higher than a GC and a bunch of individual trades. They are typically custom builders and I would wonder how well they would mix in with the tract developers.

Servicing of lots would remain a problem. This is still a municipal problem and matters of capacity in services, particularly sewage, is a multi-year problem in many areas, not to mention the funding. Ontario outlawed 'development charges', so I question where they would get the multi-millions to prepare the lots.

I wonder about the immediate resort to foreign workers. Most aspects of home building are skilled trades.

In many urban areas, the building of single family detached homes is a matter of sprawl. They require more land which, in many areas, means land permanently removed from agriculture. More low density development requires more costly infrastructure to support it.
So you are saying there is no “wave a magic wand, easy button…”?
 
Royal Homes is just one 'prefab' home builder in Ontario alone. No doubt some aspects could be accelerated, and I don't know their production volume but they certainly aren't auto assembly lines. These companies already have their customer base and I imagine would be thrilled to have government-backed competitors brought online. Since they require relatively large production and storge footprints, their upfront costs would be much higher than a GC and a bunch of individual trades. They are typically custom builders and I would wonder how well they would mix in with the tract developers.

Servicing of lots would remain a problem. This is still a municipal problem and matters of capacity in services, particularly sewage, is a multi-year problem in many areas, not to mention the funding. Ontario outlawed 'development charges', so I question where they would get the multi-millions to prepare the lots.

I wonder about the immediate resort to foreign workers. Most aspects of home building are skilled trades.

In many urban areas, the building of single family detached homes is a matter of sprawl. They require more land which, in many areas, means land permanently removed from agriculture. More low density development requires more costly infrastructure to support it.
Royal actually does utilize an assembly line of sorts in their factory in Wingham. As you pointed out, there are a number of pre-fab builders although royal I think is the only one to build off site and deliver on trucks. The point is we don't need grandiose plans from Ottawa. We have enough immigrants in country now if we need additional labour: just put them in an apprenticeship programme. But we aren't building as many homes now as we were 20 years ago. It has nothing to do with urban sprawl but everything to do with profit. Builders have zoning and approvals in place for thousands of units. They are just waiting for the right price guaranteed. Servicing is a just in time process. Builders are not going to put the costs into pipes until they are ready to bring the units on line. But no one is going to build anything until the customers are available that can make the payments and right now there aren't very many of them. Average apartment condo in Ontario is over 600000 which with 10% down gives one a 3200 dollar mortgage payment plus condo fees for a one/two bedroom flat. That is better than the rent though cause that is up around 4000 or so I have heard. But that is only if you can make the necessary 10% down. How many people of 60,000 in the bank that you know. A 3200 dollar mortgage requires a family income of well north of 100,000. That is a rarity also unless it is 2 school teachers or two federal civil servants. As proof of what I claim, consider that although people are getting their price they are having to wait a long time to find a buyer. The number of buyers has dropped off significantly even though there are thousands out there looking for homes
 
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