The Best of 2016: Looking on the bright side of the new home industry
By Lucas on Dec 01, 2016
Okay, time's flying and it’s scaring us - but that’s a different blog post. 2016 is nearly wrapped up, so once again we are spending the month of December looking back at the best of the year with regards to the new home industry, specifically in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Southern Ontario.
Upon quick reflection, 2016 was pretty fantastic. So many amazing new home projects hit the market, we attended some great launches and groundbreakings, and many builders and developers were awarded for their excellence and energy efficiency.
Looking back at our first Best of 2015 post, we mentioned that the new home industry was struggling from a decreasing low-rise supply, which was causing prices to rise, leading to an affordability issue. Unfortunately, this is still the case.
According to the Building Industry and Land Development Association’s (BILD) latest report, there was only two months of low-rise inventory as of the end of October 2016. The month before that, there was less than one month supply of new detached homes. Inventory continues to drop and prices continue to rise, even at the end of 2016.
In October 2005, the average price of a new low-rise home in the GTA was $387,369. Last year, the average was $802,376. This year, October’s average new low-rise price was $937,689! That’s a 17% year-over-year increase.
As detached homes become more unattainable, builders are responding by releasing more new townhomes and semis. Also, a lot of activity has been shifted to the new high-rise market as single and couples decide that they would rather sacrifice space for a more downtown location and a wider range of affordable options.
In addition to the looming affordability and inventory issues, there were also major mortgage changes made - we’ll have to wait until we’re well into 2017 to see the effects of these changes.
We plan on focusing mostly on the positive side of 2016 for the month of December. We’ll be revisiting our most popular stories, the best parties and events, the best of sustainability, interesting architecture, industry awards, the best design trends and DIY projects, and much more!
Stay tuned - our Best of 2016 features will be popping up every week!
