LOCAL HOUSING REMAINS HOT
With third-biggest price rise in country, Windsor seeing benefits of affordability
Windsor’s hot housing market keeps getting hotter.
Prices for new houses in Windsor increased 6.5 per cent between April 2016 and April 2017, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. That’s the third-largest increase in the country.
In the last year, Windsor saw a larger increase in new-home prices than metropolitan areas like Vancouver (four per cent increase), Victoria (5.3 per cent increase), London (five per cent increase) and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo (6.4 per cent increase).
“It’s nice to be in the top three in Canada,” said Kim Gazo, president of the Windsor-Essex County Association of Realtors.
“We’ve always been a nice hub of affordability, but this, I think, will help … our market be even more robust and bring even more attention to the area.”
Statistics Canada’s New Housing Price Index measures changes in the selling prices of new residences, including single-family homes, semi-detached homes and townhouses.
Prices for new houses in Canada increased 3.9 per cent in the same 12-month period, the largest rise since May 2008.
The largest increase was in Toronto, at 9.9 per cent, followed by St. Catharines-Niagara, at 7.2 per cent.
Six major metropolitan areas saw declines over the last year. St. John’s, at -0.7 per cent, and Edmonton, at -0.6 per cent, had the largest decreases.
Windsor’s prices for new builds have steadily been on the rise. In February, Windsor hit 6.2 per cent in year-over-year new housing price increases — the largest gain reported since January 1990.
“We’re going up because we were so low,” Gazo said. “We had a bigger bar to raise.”
She said the 2008 recession created “a slowdown all across the board.”
But nearly a decade later, Gazo said Windsor’s appealing proximity to a major metropolitan area, flat topography and comparatively milder winters are contributing to the current boom.
Housing construction is on a tear in the towns surrounding Windsor, with new subdivisions and homes sprouting up at a rate not seen since the 1990s.
In Lakeshore, housing starts over the first five months of the year shot up 27 per cent over the same period in 2016.
“Housing is going unbelievable right now. Things are definitely booming,” said Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain. At least three new subdivisions are on the go in his town, he said, and new industrial development, including an autoparts plant expansion with 200 new workers, will only continue to fuel that growth.
After two years of rapid growth, LaSalle is seeing a sustained high level of housing development. The 135 new units so far this year compare to 136 over the same period last year, but that level comes after a 50-per-cent growth rate in housing starts in each of the previous two years.
“Last year was a banner year for us, we had a significant increase — 2017 is on par with that,” said Larry Silani, LaSalle’s director of development and strategic initiatives.
“These are large increases,” said Silani. Recently, a 24-unit rental building was fully rented out at market rates before construction was even completed.
Lakeshore issued 141 house permits over the first five months of 2017, up 27 per cent over the same period in 2016, which itself was a 20-per-cent boost over 2015.
“Oh yeah, new starts are hot, especially in Lakeshore,” said Peter Valente, president of Valente Development Corp. A mere six months after his company built a new road, all 37 available lots along Crosswinds Drives were snapped up, with homes in the $350,000 to $500,000 range having sold “very, very, very quickly,” he said
Silani cites two major reasons for the housing boom. First is confidence in the local economy, particularly the 1,200 additional well-paid hires at FCA Canada for the new Pacifica minivan and the many related spinoff jobs in the automotive sector.
The other biggie — a super-hot real estate market in the Greater Toronto Area that appears to be chasing lovers of affordable home ownership to the Windsor and Essex County area.
“A lot of people, if they’re not tied to the GTA because of a job, are cashing in their chips and moving here mortgage-free,” said Valente. He estimates 60 per cent of his customers are from out of town, primarily the Toronto area.
“We’re reaching critical mass as more people become aware of our area,” said Valente.
Leamington’s housing unit starts doubled in the first four months of the year, from 14 in 2016 to 29 this year. Last year saw “a significant increase over 2015,” said Paul Barnable, Leamington’s director of community and development services.
Kingsville also saw a 27-per-cent hike this year in housing starts, with 52 permits for new homes issued during the first five months of 2017. That increase followed a significant jump the previous year, said Mayor Nelson Santos.
Santos also credits the FCA Canada’s Windsor Assembly Plant workforce expansion for the “difference in confidence” that is sweeping the local economies.
Rita Chappell-Arsenault, Lakeshore’s manager of communications and strategic initiatives, said buyers are flocking to areas where quality of life is emphasized, including new subdivisions near the expanded Atlas Tube Centre with its multiple recreational offerings and near the town’s expanding network of walking and cycling trails.
Silani said the two main groups of home hunters LaSalle is seeing are people from the GTA buying large custom-built homes in the $700,000-plus range, and emptynesters and young couples looking for low-maintenance townhouses in the $300,000 to $500,000 range.
Silani said there is “a lot of pentup demand” for smaller properties, including rentals, in walkable neighbourhoods near shopping, transit, medical and seniors centres and recreational trails.
The new confidence in the local housing sector has developers like Valente looking at building rental properties. He said he’s currently working on a 24-unit site plan with city planners for a rental development just outside Windsor’s downtown.
“We’re going to be the guinea pigs,” Valente said of a type of residential development the city hasn’t seen much of in decades.