THE VIEW FROM INSIDE
HOUSING INDUSTRY AN ECONOMIC DRIVER
By Geranium
When you purchase a new home, you are engaging in a transaction that reverberates across many parts of Canada’s economy. To illustrate, we are sharing some interesting facts about the housing industry in our country and have extracted information from some of the most recent studies and reports undertaken by organizations, government agencies and industry associations.
- The housing industry in Canada is critical to our economy. Reports indicate that in 2016, 69 percent of Canadians owned a home, and four in five millennials wanted to purchase a home. ¹(CHBA)
- In Canada, homes account for $4 trillion in assets. ¹(CHBA)
- Figures from 2016, show that residential construction impacted 1,008,392 jobs, generated $59.4 billion in wages and $138.3 billion in economic activity. ¹(CHBA)
- Looking at the micro level and taking York Region as an example, in 2016 there were 8,926 new housing starts (the number of homes beginning construction), which were key to the economic growth of the area. On-site and off-site jobs in new home construction are a major source of employment in York Region – 23,749 people have jobs in this industry and earn $1.4 billion in wages. ¹(CHBA)
- Provincially, the value of new home construction, residential renovation and related impacts of construction grew 55 percent since 2007 to a value of $56.2 billion. ²(OHBA)
- Every construction crane you see in the GTA represents up to 500 new on-site and off-site jobs in construction and related fields. ³(BILD)
- The types of jobs involved in the building of homes include urban planners, engineers, lawyers, marketers, sales representatives, accountants, designers, as well as electricians, plumbers, framers, and labourers. ³(BILD)
- In 2015, the industry contributed more than $30 billion to the GTA’s economy, resulting in billions of dollars in tax revenue collected by all levels of government. This revenue will contribute to repairing existing infrastructure like roads, sewers, schools and hospitals. ³(BILD)
- Homeownership rates in Toronto have increased by 23 per cent over the last 35 years (11 per cent in Ontario overall), putting the region close to the highest among “world class” cities. 4(CANCEA)
- In the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area in 2017, 45 percent of households lived in detached homes, 35 percent in apartment/condo buildings and 20 percent lived in housing types such as semi-detached, row homes, townhomes, multiplexes and lowrise buildings. 4(CANCEA)
- There is an increasing focus on a work-play-live lifestyle. Land developers have moved away from viewing projects as one-offs in favour of planning complete neighbourhoods that include wellness, retail, entertainment, office and more. 5(PwC)
At Geranium, we are proud to develop and build entire planned communities for the spectrum of the new housing market and to be part of this important industry in Canada.
Information sources:
1: tinyurl.com/ya4zy6lr
2: tinyurl.com/y9cbxhsa
3: tinyurl.com/y89vep6q
4: tinyurl.com/ya3czvdx
5: tinyurl.com/y8g6f95s
Celebrating more than 40 years in business, Geranium has created master-planned communities including more than 8,000 homes in Ontario.
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