Housing Market Drama: Why Edmonton's Building While Toronto's Snoozing 🏘️😴
Tale of two cities: Why Edmonton builds homes faster than Toronto. Canada's housing scene is wild, fam. Edmonton and Calgary are popping off with new builds, but Toronto's hitting the snooze button. Zoning laws and prefab houses are low-key the MVPs. But fr, are we building enough houses or nah?
TL:DR
Canada's housing scene is wild, fam. Edmonton and Calgary are popping off with new builds, but Toronto's hitting the snooze button. Zoning laws and prefab houses are low-key the MVPs. But fr, are we building enough houses or nah?
The Deets
Okay, so listen up, Canada's housing market is kinda sus right now. Nationally, housing starts went up by like 0.4% in June compared to May, but it's up 14% from last year. But here's where it gets spicy – it's not the same everywhere, no cap.
Edmonton and Calgary are doing the most. They saw housing starts jump by 29% and 32% respectively in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, Toronto is straight-up ghosting the housing game, with a 44% drop in the same time period. Ouch!
Why the major difference? Apparently, it's all about the zoning laws, fam. Edmonton and Calgary have chill vibes when it comes to what you can build. Plus, they're into that "missing middle" housing – like sixplexes and fourplexes. Toronto's got stricter rules, which is slowing things down.
Vancouver and Victoria are also making moves, with housing starts up 74% and a whopping 187% respectively! British Columbia is even throwing in some funding and pre-approved house designs. They're trying to make prefab/modular housing a thing, which is kinda genius. Build the houses off-site, then just plop 'em down? Big brain move.
But even with all this building, experts are still stressed. They're saying we need way more houses to keep up with demand. And to top it off, the trade war with the U.S. is probably gonna make things even more expensive for developers. This housing market is a whole mess, TBH.
Abbreviations Glossary
| Abbreviation | Full Form |
|---|---|
| Sus | Suspicious, questionable. |
| No cap | Seriously, no lie. |
| Doing the most | Being very active or extra. |
| Ghosting | Disappearing, not participating. |
| Chill vibes | Easygoing, relaxed. |
| TBH | To be honest. |
| Big brain move | Very Smart move. |