Cost of housing in Canada

[IKnowNothing]

Horses for courses.
The prairies have the space- if they want to go the route of sprawl that's their choice.

But Southern Ontario is a different story. Too much of the best farmland in the country is already under suburbs. We have massive stocks of low density SDH's, a centuries worth. But we need more places for people to live. Filling in the remaining gaps within urban boundaries with lower cost/ higher density housing is both what the free market and societal need is calling for. The role of central planning in the next little bit should be to

• enable it via infrastructure
• ensure social needs are looked after ie. push developers for livable family size units, not micro condo bachelor pads, make sure there's green space and adequate parking
• get out of the way and take Nimby's with them

In terms of the overall situation, looking at CREA data for some "non-GTA" urban centres (Guelph, KW, London, Barrie)

• The average price is flat with where it was in approximately summer 2021, no net price growth in 3 years
• IF prices finish the year where they are now (big if) the 5 year price growth (as a %) from 2020 to 2025 will actually be smaller than that of 2015-2020, with all of it happening in the first 18 months of the window

Pie in the sky hope for a path out- that the pain of the last two years has slapped some sense into the market, and we've found a short/mid term equilibrium point where rates relaxing to ~3-3.5% just increases affordability and volume of transactions rather than kickstarting another run up, and prices go sideways for another couple/few years before settling into a long term <3% growth rate again.

 

[YZT580]

Fair, but that is still an example that higher density living =/= worse outcomes.

I guess other examples could be city centres in the Netherlands, etc - not necessarily Amsterdam or Paris or London.

But about going outside and playing - even in downtown Toronto, community parks are still a thing and very popular (not just by the homeless crowd). A bunch of my friends, with kids, live in higher-density living and go to the parks regularly.

older parks in established neighbourhoods under the old regulations. The European cities that I lived in all featured homes and flats built right on the road allowance with large green spaces in the rear and had large parks and playgrounds within walking distance. They also had shops, pubs, and schools all within the same walking area. Here we have eliminated many of those amenities: neighbourhood shops gave way to malls and strip plazas, schools have been consolidated with added busing removing children from their local area, locals have given way to Montana and Kelsey and parks in new areas have become parkettes with two benches and an ugly statue and no swings or teeter totters.

 

[dimsum]

older parks in established neighbourhoods under the old regulations. The European cities that I lived in all featured homes and flats built right on the road allowance with large green spaces in the rear and had large parks and playgrounds within walking distance. They also had shops, pubs, and schools all within the same walking area. Here we have eliminated many of those amenities: neighbourhood shops gave way to malls and strip plazas, schools have been consolidated with added busing removing children from their local area, locals have given way to Montana and Kelsey and parks in new areas have become parkettes with two benches and an ugly statue and no swings or teeter totters.

Are you talking about…

gasp

15 minute cities?!?!?!??!!!!????

 

[dapaterson]

Are you talking about…

gasp

15 minute cities?!?!?!??!!!!????

 

[Rifleman62]

I moved from LONDON, UK to WINNIPEG, CANADA ​

 

[YZT580]

Are you talking about…

gasp

15 minute cities?!?!?!??!!!!????

absolutely not. I am talking about 5 minute neighbourhoods.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Jane Jacobs.

 

[CountDC]

And we don't. We demand 40 acres.

Sounds good to me and my family. We all hate neighbours. Difficult to find 40 acres with a hospital, high school, shopping mall, Walmart and coastline for mackerel jigging within a short walking distance though.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Sounds good to me and my family. We all hate neighbours. Difficult to find 40 acres with a hospital, high school, shopping mall, Walmart and coastline for mackerel jigging within a short walking distance though.

Sure, but that's from the era when kids would walk substantial distances to school, and people went into town once in a while for the general supplies they couldn't provide for themselves.

 

[CountDC]

We live on the edge of our school zone and my son walks rather than be lazy like so many others. Depending on how fast he decides to go it is 20 to 30 minutes. Have seen others that are a lot closer to the school with parents dropping them off.

it is true we used to walk a good distance to go jigging back when I was a kid. According to google maps it is slightly over 7kms each way and would take 1 hour 40 minutes to walk. I call BS on that though as it didn't take us that long to walk it. Google has to learn to read walking paths and short cuts. I am thinking we would shave the 40 minutes off it.

 

[dimsum]

We live on the edge of our school zone and my son walks rather than be lazy like so many others. Depending on how fast he decides to go it is 20 to 30 minutes. Have seen others that are a lot closer to the school with parents dropping them off.

it is true we used to walk a good distance to go jigging back when I was a kid. According to google maps it is slightly over 7kms each way and would take 1 hour 40 minutes to walk. I call BS on that though as it didn't take us that long to walk it. Google has to learn to read walking paths and short cuts. I am thinking we would shave the 40 minutes off it.

Google calculates that using the cars, unless there are Google people walking around doing Street View.

 

[Furniture]

Google calculates that using the cars, unless there are Google people walking around doing Street View.

I actually saw a Google Street View car on Tuesday morning, headed West on Montreal Rd. here in Vanier.

 

[brihard]

I actually saw a Google Street View car on Tuesday morning, headed West on Montreal Rd. here in Vanier.

Makes sense with all the construction going on. The streetscape and skyline of Montreal Road/Rideau Street has changed considerably. Several quite new houses popping up in the streets south of McArthur as old houses get torn down. There‘a a surprising amount of gentrification going on.

 

[Furniture]

Makes sense with all the construction going on. The streetscape and skyline of Montreal Road/Rideau Street has changed considerably. Several quite new houses popping up in the streets south of McArthur as old houses get torn down. There‘a a surprising glorious amount of gentrification going on.

FTFY

 

[CountDC]

Google calculates that using the cars, unless there are Google people walking around doing Street View.

I have actually had it at times show routes using paths instead of just the roads. Recently did that for directions to my place using cycling, went through the park next door. It is a hit or miss thing with them. Sometimes it even puts the arrival location in the middle of nowhere when looking for directions to parks, no road or path showing to it.

 

[lenaitch]

I have actually had it at times show routes using paths instead of just the roads. Recently did that for directions to my place using cycling, went through the park next door. It is a hit or miss thing with them. Sometimes it even puts the arrival location in the middle of nowhere when looking for directions to parks, no road or path showing to it.

(Sorry - I tried to post an image of the Streetview 'backpack' rig but it would let me)

Sometimes they run into an event, or a crowd (too many faces to blur), it starts to rain, etc.

It's a tough gig. They are providing FREE mapping and Streetview services for much of the planet.

 

[Remius]

First standardized housing designs coming in December, but won't be permit-ready until 'early 2025'

The first iteration of the federal government's standardized pre-approved design catalogue – a revival of a wartime housing effort – will be unveiled in December, CTV News has learned.

www.ctvnews.ca

I wasn’t tracking how fast this was happening.

 

[Humphrey Bogart]

Are you talking about…

gasp

15 minute cities?!?!?!??!!!!????

Having lived the Condo/Apartment life for my entire 20s and early 30s and now being able to afford the Luxury of a nice single family home. I'm never going back.

I think the idea that you can have what I have and live anywhere in a major metro area is devoid from reality though. You need to either make beaucoup $$$$ or accept that if you want what I have, you need to be OK with services and amenities being not readily accessible.

As far as 15 minute Cities go, the biggest issue at the moment is infrastructure. We haven't invented in it and it's going to take beaucoup $$$$ to bring us up to snuff.