Post by kelvin on Dec 11, 2006 23:18:35 GMT -5
URL: www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061211.whousing60years1211/BNStory/Business/home
Sixty years of change in the housing market
ROMA LUCIW
Globe and Mail Update
Posted AT 3:36 PM EST ON 11/12/06
Canada's housing market has undergone seismic changes since the Second World War, as a growing percentage of the population have become home owners and have made major repairs to their castles, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report that looks at trends over the last six decades.
In 1941, many Canadian homes lacked basic indoor plumbing features such as piped running water, flush toilets, and baths or showers. Since then, Canadians have updated the physical state of their dwellings, with homes in need of major repairs falling from 27 per cent to 8 per cent last year.
At the same time, the proportion of households who own their homes climbed from just over one-half to around two-thirds.
“The sum of the housing achievements over this period is that Canadians are widely acknowledged to be among the best housed in the world,” CHMC said in its 2006 Canadian Housing Observer report.
The report arrives just as Canada's real estate market is coming off a five-year boom. Boosted by solid economic growth and strong labour situation, the new home and resale market have been bustling in recent years, with renovation spending hitting a record high $40-billion in 2005.
“The recent strength of housing construction in recent years has occurred in spite of a slowing in population growth and aging of the population,” CHMC said.
Canadians appear to be more comfortable taking on higher levels of debt to finance their homes; the value of mortgages approved last year rose 10.9 per cent to $182.1-billion. The average value of mortgage approved was $145,000, an 8.8 per cent jump from 2004.
The dollar value of all outstanding mortgages averaged $624-billion last year, up $55.7-billion from 2004, CHMC said.
Canada is also one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with more than 80 per cent of the population living in urban centres.
Since the mid-1940s, most housing development has taken place at the edge of urban areas — often on greener properties like farms and forests. That has decreased urban density, CHMC said, as has inefficient use of municipal infrastructure, loss of farmland and natural spaces, car dependence, traffic congestion and poor air quality.
The report said creating new homes in existing neighbourhoods — called intensification — is one solution. “Despite higher costs, intensification can be profitable to developers because inner city locations can bring fast sales and higher selling prices.”
The CHMC report also touched on some of the demographic challenges facing Canada's housing market, including increasingly grey population. Five years ago, about one in eight Canadians was aged 65 or over; Canada's share of seniors will almost double in the next 15 years.
“To appeal to older Canadians, housing will have to address their various emerging housing and non-housing needs, target a variety of budgets, and be available in a range of locales, including neighbourhoods to which many seniors may have developed strong attachments after years of residence,” the report said.
Seniors are less likely to move than younger Canadians, and those who do tend to choose smaller, more manageable homes, such as condominiums.
The growing number of aboriginal people will also affect the housing market. Canada's aboriginal population is expected to jump by 22 per cent between 1996 and 2001, compared with a 3.4 per cent growth rate for non-aboriginal people.
In 2001, 45 per cent of all aboriginal households owned their homes, well below the 67-per-cent home ownership rate among non-aboriginals. “Aboriginal households were more than twice as likely as non-aboriginals to be living in crowded housing and in housing in need of major repair,” the CHMC report said.
The abysmal state of housing among Canada's native population is tied to higher rates of poverty and widespread unemployment. Nevertheless, the rapidly expanding and relatively young wave of aboriginals will alter housing demand, the report said.
Immigrants to Canada, who number more than 200,000 a year, will also alter the housing landscape, CHMC noted. Nearly 60 per cent of newcomers surveyed said that they plan to buy a home in the next few years.
Sixty years of change in the housing market
ROMA LUCIW
Globe and Mail Update
Posted AT 3:36 PM EST ON 11/12/06
Canada's housing market has undergone seismic changes since the Second World War, as a growing percentage of the population have become home owners and have made major repairs to their castles, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report that looks at trends over the last six decades.
In 1941, many Canadian homes lacked basic indoor plumbing features such as piped running water, flush toilets, and baths or showers. Since then, Canadians have updated the physical state of their dwellings, with homes in need of major repairs falling from 27 per cent to 8 per cent last year.
At the same time, the proportion of households who own their homes climbed from just over one-half to around two-thirds.
“The sum of the housing achievements over this period is that Canadians are widely acknowledged to be among the best housed in the world,” CHMC said in its 2006 Canadian Housing Observer report.
The report arrives just as Canada's real estate market is coming off a five-year boom. Boosted by solid economic growth and strong labour situation, the new home and resale market have been bustling in recent years, with renovation spending hitting a record high $40-billion in 2005.
“The recent strength of housing construction in recent years has occurred in spite of a slowing in population growth and aging of the population,” CHMC said.
Canadians appear to be more comfortable taking on higher levels of debt to finance their homes; the value of mortgages approved last year rose 10.9 per cent to $182.1-billion. The average value of mortgage approved was $145,000, an 8.8 per cent jump from 2004.
The dollar value of all outstanding mortgages averaged $624-billion last year, up $55.7-billion from 2004, CHMC said.
Canada is also one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with more than 80 per cent of the population living in urban centres.
Since the mid-1940s, most housing development has taken place at the edge of urban areas — often on greener properties like farms and forests. That has decreased urban density, CHMC said, as has inefficient use of municipal infrastructure, loss of farmland and natural spaces, car dependence, traffic congestion and poor air quality.
The report said creating new homes in existing neighbourhoods — called intensification — is one solution. “Despite higher costs, intensification can be profitable to developers because inner city locations can bring fast sales and higher selling prices.”
The CHMC report also touched on some of the demographic challenges facing Canada's housing market, including increasingly grey population. Five years ago, about one in eight Canadians was aged 65 or over; Canada's share of seniors will almost double in the next 15 years.
“To appeal to older Canadians, housing will have to address their various emerging housing and non-housing needs, target a variety of budgets, and be available in a range of locales, including neighbourhoods to which many seniors may have developed strong attachments after years of residence,” the report said.
Seniors are less likely to move than younger Canadians, and those who do tend to choose smaller, more manageable homes, such as condominiums.
The growing number of aboriginal people will also affect the housing market. Canada's aboriginal population is expected to jump by 22 per cent between 1996 and 2001, compared with a 3.4 per cent growth rate for non-aboriginal people.
In 2001, 45 per cent of all aboriginal households owned their homes, well below the 67-per-cent home ownership rate among non-aboriginals. “Aboriginal households were more than twice as likely as non-aboriginals to be living in crowded housing and in housing in need of major repair,” the CHMC report said.
The abysmal state of housing among Canada's native population is tied to higher rates of poverty and widespread unemployment. Nevertheless, the rapidly expanding and relatively young wave of aboriginals will alter housing demand, the report said.
Immigrants to Canada, who number more than 200,000 a year, will also alter the housing landscape, CHMC noted. Nearly 60 per cent of newcomers surveyed said that they plan to buy a home in the next few years.