New housing is down 9% in Greater Victoria vs last year. CMHC reports there were 1,713 new homes from January to June in 2022 vs 1,883 units in 2021.
June 2022 posted 233 starts vs 358 in June 2021, a 35% decrease. From May 2022 to June 2022, there was a 29% decline is new housing.
These declines are concerning and seem to also reflect challenges in the U.S. where the National Association of Homebuilders reports, “Production bottlenecks, rising home building costs & high inflation are causing many builders to halt construction because the cost of land, construction & financing exceeds the market value of the home.”
There are still housing supply shortages and high prices, however production costs are a significant problem. Locally, municipalities could control fees and improve efficiency of rezonings and permit approvals, yet this is rare. BC’s housing report called “Opening Doors” recommended phasing out Community Amenity Contributions (CAC’s) because they are an incentive for municipalities to under-zone for density to collect the fee revenue. However, that report has been ignored by municipal councils like Saanich which is increasing their CAC’s and recently boosted Development Cost Charges 180%. Simple building permit approvals take months whereas the Langford process is a week.
In Nova Scotia, where the average price of a home is $417,300, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has decided to “to review and approve housing development proposals in nine special planning areas across the Halifax Regional Municipality…To date, projects amounting to more than 22,000 homes are to be “shovel-ready” between this summer and spring 2024. By contrast, since 2018 communities provincewide have issued building permits for just over 12,000 homes, which means the provincial government is well on its way to green-lighting far more housing in Halifax alone over two years than communities provincewide have in five.”
In BC, where the average price is $947,216, the Minister of Housing is only encouraging municipalities to be more efficient. He may actually take some kind of action after the municipal elections in October if councils remain uncooperative.
Nova Scotia is taking action now when their home prices are half of BC’s.
New small multi-family housing for young families continues to be missing in many municipalities.
The CMHC data show semi-detached and row housing (duplexes, townhomes) also called “missing middle” continues to total zero in many municipalities.
Year-to-date there are again zero new units Central Saanich, View Royal, Saanich, Oak Bay, North Saanich, Metchosin, and Highlands.
New “missing middle housing” can be found in Langford, Sooke, Victoria, Colwood, Esquimalt, and Sidney.
Rezoning for “missing middle” housing is being considered by Victoria Council, after being postponed for a review.
More municipalities need to step up and encourage this housing through efficient rezoning and permit approvals to assist supply and affordability.