CONSTRUCTION BOOM IN OSHAWA: SHIFTING FORM

NRU
Aug. 16, 2017
Dominik Matusik

Despite slumping home sales in Toronto, Oshawa’s construction boom continues, fueled by affordable prices and recently-completed transportation infrastructure. In a shift away from historic norms this construction is increasingly taking the form of townhouses.

In July, Oshawa issued a greater number of building permits than in any other month in its history, and generated a record amount of residential construction value. The city also issued a record number of building permits for townhouses, signalling a shift away from the single-family house, which used to dominate Oshawa construction.

Oshawa development services committee chair councillor John Aker told NRU that the main driving force behind the boom is the affordability of homes in Oshawa, relative to elsewhere in the GTHA, as well as the recently completed Highway 407 extension.

“Three things are driving the construction boom,” he says. “One is the low interest rates that everybody has in Canada. The second one is our location 55 kilometres from downtown Toronto. And most important, we finally have two 400-series highways connecting us to the Toronto area, the 401 and the 407. We always were lacking in vehicle transportation to Toronto.”

In addition to the highways, Aker says Oshawa will also benefit from two additional GO Train stations—Thornton’s Corners and Oshawa Central—anticipated to be operational by 2024.

Durham Region policy planning and special studies manager Colleen Goodchild told NRU that it is more important to look at long-term trends rather than month-to-month numbers. She says that much of Oshawa’s growth has occurred in newly serviced greenfield areas like Windfields. Other greenfield lands in Whitby and Pickering are yet to be brought “online,” and, once they are, Goodchild anticipates much of the growth will shift to them, particularly to the Seaton area of Pickering.

She says that the affordability of Durham, relative to the rest of the GTHA, will continue to drive growth in the region.

Aker agrees, saying that much of the demand for housing in Oshawa is coming from residents of other GTHA municipalities.

“[The demand] is coming from—no doubt about it—Toronto, York, and Peel... What’s actually occurring is that a lot of people can’t afford the market in those municipalities, so they, by necessity, are looking for homes here. But secondly, there’s another wave of people that have sold their home in those communities and are moving out here and can buy here and still have cash in pocket.”

Oshawa has also seen a gradual shift in built form, away from detached houses and towards townhouses and rental apartments.

“The majority of units in Oshawa are single-family homes. And we’re very proud of that. There is a reality that a lot of young people cannot purchase a single-family home. So then what we are encouraging here in Oshawa is all-brick townhouses. We want townhouses with some greenery and some space and there may come a day when the townhouse will replace the single-family home in new construction.”

Aker foresees this construction boom in Oshawa continuing for the foreseeable future.

“We’re in about the fourth year of an economic boom. In my opinion, the boom has at least another 15 years into the future. And the reason for it is, as soon as MTO sells [its] lands that [it has] purchased to build the 407, and on both sides of the 407, then there’ll be a whole new wave of development along the interchanges of the 407.”