Ottawa housing prices could go up $100,000 under city’s New Official Plan, says Claridge CFO
Posted Oct 18, 2021 02:58:00 PM.
The City of Ottawa's New Official Plan could have a substantial impact on the average cost of new homes, as one expert says the document doesn't account for the rate in which the city is growing.
“A house may cost $100,000 more out of this Official Plan,” Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Claridge Homes Neil Malhotra told CityNews' The Rob Snow Show on Monday, October 18.
“As proposed right now, it's going to lead to higher home prices because we're not planning for enough homes,” he explains. “We were one of the fastest growing cities in North America in 2019. So, I think one of the biggest, probably, challenges for the city in the Official Plan, is, you know, we started planning for a city of 1.4-million people and it's now more likely a city of 1.5-million people over the next 25 years.”
Simply put, there are more people than houses to accommodate them, which drives prices up.
“We've got to balance out the challenges we have in the housing market today, which is, simply, we don't have enough houses for our existing population,” Malhotra said. “That's led to, you know, enormous price increases just in the last two to three years.”
Malhotra cites a recent Scotiabank study that found G7 countries average 478 homes per 1,000 people. Canada is at about 420 homes per 1,000 people and Ottawa is closer to 403 homes per 1,000 people.
He says the city needs to find a way to bolster housing stock, to keep it in line with its development goals.
“It's a very clear indication there's a shortfall of housing and we have to figure out a way to increase our housing stock quickly,” Malhotra said. “Not just to accommodate to 1.5-million people, but how do we increase the housing stock for the existing population.”
Another problem is land prices in Ottawa, which, according to the Claridge CFO, have gone up 50 per cent in the two-year period since the city started hashing out details of the new urban boundary.
To hear the full interview, click here.
