The Ontario government is set to announce details of a review of the municipal planning and development process Thursday that the GTA building industry hopes will finally help area residents understand the escalating impact of provincial intensification policies.
Two consultation papers — one aimed at streamlining the land-use planning process and the role of the Ontario Municipal Board, the other a review of development charges — are expected to be released this week.
They are aimed at setting the parameters of a public consultation process that the Building and Land Development Association (BILD) says is desperately needed in light of the fact almost decade-old provincially mandated intensification policies now are hitting home with a vengeance.
The shortage of municipally serviced land that’s ready for development across the GTA has become so drastic, builders simply can’t keep up with demand for lowrise housing, said George Carras, president of RealNet Canada Inc., the research firm for the GTA building industry, in a presentation to media Monday.
That’s pushing prices to such sky-high levels — over $1 million for a detached home on a 40-foot lot in many suburban areas of the GTA — that more Toronto workers are being forced to leapfrog over the greenbelt to find a home where they can raise their family.
The new, lowrise home market racked up some noteworthy records as of the third quarter of 2013, according to figures released Monday by RealNet.
The index price of houses — detached, semis and townhouses — climbed to a record $658,869 as of September, up 5.7 per cent year over year. And there were just 8,878 houses sold from January to September, 39 per cent below the 10-year average.
New condo sales were down 22 per cent from 10-year norms as developers held back on new projects, and prices slipped slightly to $432,853 as of September, according to RealNet.
But the gap between the price of a house and a condo hit a record $226,016.
That’s up almost 23 per cent in just a year and a far cry from the mere $75,000 gap that remained fairly constant until about 2011 when the full impact of the province’s Places to Grow intensification policies really started to be felt across the GTA, said Carras.
That growing gap, which Carras likened to “watching your dog run away on the Prairies” shows no signs of letting up. He warned that the GTA risks becoming like Vancouver where lowrise homes have become a rare and valuable commodity and cost, on average, about $700,000 more than a condo.
The index price of a new condo in the GTA actually slipped by 1.5 per cent to about $432,853 in September, year over year. But Carras noted that buyers are also paying more for less, given that the average unit sold in September was 13 square feet smaller than units sold in August.
Just since 2009, the new condo index has shrunk by about 120 square feet, the equivalent of a 10 by 12 bedroom, he added, as developers try to keep average costs down in light of the added impact of the HST on new home purchases.
BILD and GTA developers have been concerned for some time that the dramatic shift in the market — from houses to highrises — has been so fierce and so fast, most GTA residents really have no idea why it’s happening.
BILD president Bryan Tuckey hopes the papers being released Thursday will at least begin a public process of discussion, and debate, about the future of the housing market, especially in the GTA where much of the municipal zoning still favours lower density development, in direct violation of the provincial intensification policies.
While there has been lots of talk about the need for more affordable, midrise housing along major corridors as an affordable alternative for seniors and families, it continues to run into crippling community opposition, notes Tuckey.
Municipal affairs officials declined to discuss Thursday’s announcement, other than to say Minister Linda Jeffrey told the Association of Municipalities back in August that she intends to begin a consultation process “to find way to make our land-use planning system better, to foster better co-operation between municipalities, developers and community groups so they can work together to make those tough decisions.”