Is Vaughan traffic about to get worse?

YorkRegion.com
Aug. 13, 2015
Adam Martin-Robbins

New home construction in Vaughan is booming, at least compared to the last couple of years, according to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The latest numbers released for July show work got under way on building 212 new homes, up from 64 in the same month last year.

The majority of the new housing units were single-detached homes at 138 followed by row houses at 62 and semi-detached homes at 12.

Those numbers were strong enough to see Vaughan rank second in new housing starts for July in the Toronto Census Metropolitan area, which includes most GTA municipalities.

 “This time last year in Vaughan sales were really strong both for low-rise and high-rise new construction. Those houses are now under construction and that is why you’re seeing that boom and that stat coming from CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) that housing starts are up,” said Andrea DeGasperis-Ronco, president of Vaughan-based OPUS Homes and a member of the Building Industry and Land Development Association York Chapter.

Toronto topped the list for July with 842 housing starts while Brampton posted the third highest number at 204.

Overall in the Toronto Census Metropolitan area, however, there was a slow down in housing starts month-over-month with a total of 36,810 started in July, compared to 39,108 in June.

“We’ve definitely noticed, not just in Vaughan but throughout the GTA, there’s been a strong demand for housing,” DeGasperis-Ronco said. “Our industry is trying to provide choices for homebuyers, as builders and developers, but what we’re finding is we’re really struggling to keep up with the demand that’s out there.

“As the GTA grows, obviously, there’s a need for municipalities to put money into infrastructure. We need to build communities where people can live, work and play alike. The biggest challenge is there’s limited land that’s serviced and by serviced I mean that’s ready with sewers, roads and water. So with that comes a lag in construction starts.”  

Vaughan’s jump in housing starts last month marked the continuation of a trend that has played out through the first half of this year.

Since January, construction has begun on 2,229 units compared with just 607 during the same period in 2014.

Though earlier this year, it was condominium apartments rather than single-detached homes that drove the numbers upward with 350 condo units started in January, 461 in March and 451 in May.

That’s not surprising given the brisk condominium sales the past couple of years, especially in the Hwy. 7 and Jane Street area where the Spadina subway extension is expected to open in 2017, noted DeGasperis-Ronco.

“All of the condos that are going up in that district, the sales have driven through the roof,” she said.

In fact, housing starts in the city during the first seven months of this year have far surpassed 2014, which saw work start on 1,121 new units during the entire year, and 2013, which saw construction begin on 1,706 new units.

“Vaughan’s a really exciting place to be right now,” DeGasperis-Ronco said. “There’s a lot of development growing into it, especially with that extension of the subway line. It’s definitely a happening place in terms of the building industry. We just have to make sure that all of our infrastructure that the municipal government and provincial government are putting into it are going to keep up now and be able to sustain all the growth.”