800 new homes coming to East Gwillimbury this year
Yorkregion.com
June 16, 2016
By Simon Martin
The long-awaited building boom in East Gwillimbury is finally here with more than 7,000 homes to be built over the next nine years; 800 on the books for 2016.
It was just last year when council was surprised to learn the pace of new home development in the town had slowed in 2015.
New home building permits dropped from 167 in 2014 to an estimated 87 in 2015. Those numbers appear to be an aberration.
At the time, CAO Tom Webster said the town expects somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 building permits in 2016 as new development starts to come online.
Webster’s estimate seems to be pretty accurate halfway through 2016. According to the town, there have been 837 building permit received, so far, this year. Of those 837 submissions, 185 building permits have been issued. The remaining 652 submissions are being processed with potential issuance in the next couple of months.
The building department expects up to an additional 400 permits to be received, processed, and permits issued throughout the remainder of the year.
While a higher volume of permits in 2015 was originally expected, general manager development services Carolyn Kellington said the slowdown was due to the timing of the York Durham Sewage System extension completion being pushed back.
Thousands of homes already have draft plan approval in Holland Landing, Sharon, Mount Albert and Queensville.
The numbers are big.
In Holland Landing west, there is approval for 1,294 homes, with 987 serviced through the YDSS.
In Holland Landing east, there are 1,626 approved units, with 906 serviced through the YDSS.
In Queensville, there are 1,826 approved units, with a YDSS allotment of 3,151.
In Sharon, there are 1,974 approved homes, with 1,546 serviced through the YDSS.
Finally, in Mount Albert, there is approval for 454 homes serviced by the Mount Albert Sewage Treatment Plant.
In total, that is 7,174 homes in East Gwillimbury that already have draft plan approval.
Ideally, town staff would like to have a stable building rate of about 800 homes every year, but that’s not how the market works.
The new homes are feeding the insatiable demand for housing stock in York Region, which has seen home prices continue to rise. The average price of a resale home in York Region increased by 13.5 per cent in 2015 to $777,927, said Paul Bottomley, York Region’s manager of policy, research and planning in the economic development department.
The skyrocketing prices can be attributed to a number of issues, including a lack of houses for sale compared to demand, resulting in more competition and aggressive offers, Bottomley said.
Jason Mercer, director of market analysis with the Toronto Real Estate Board, backed up that sentiment saying the biggest story in recent years is the lack of listings.
The hot market is no different in East Gwillimbury. Sales centres are the town’s most common store front and when developments such as Queen’s Landing put homes up for grabs, hundreds of people come to see if they can purchase one.
“The launch of Queen’s Landing exceeded all expectations and surpassed every Minto record,” Amanda Wilson Watkins, vice-president of marketing and sales said last year.
