{"id":12347,"date":"2017-05-25T15:38:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T19:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?p=12347"},"modified":"2017-05-25T15:44:36","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T19:44:36","slug":"where-has-all-the-low-rise-gone-understanding-ontarios-missing-middle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/where-has-all-the-low-rise-gone-understanding-ontarios-missing-middle\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Has All the Low-Rise Gone? Understanding Ontario\u2019s Missing Middle Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>That there\u2019s not enough supply to go around has long been a culprit behind unsustainable real estate price growth in the Golden Horseshoe. However, a new report out this week indicates the province doesn\u2019t just need more housing \u2013 it needs the <em>right<\/em> kind of housing.<\/p>\n<p>It finds the GH &#8211; and especially the Greater Toronto Area &#8211; is suffering from the \u201cmissing middle\u201d or a lack of \u201cgentle density\u201d home types \u2013 think <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/toronto-on-townhouses\">townhouses,<\/a> row houses, and courtyard apartments. These traditionally bridge the gap between the luxury detached and high-rise segments, offering more space than a typical condo but at a friendlier price point than a stand-alone single-family home.<\/p>\n<h2>The Missing Middle Market: A Space Imbalance<\/h2>\n<p>A missing middle means the majority of people in the province are either over or under housed, says the\u00a0report, which was compiled by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis. Titled <em>\u201cUnderstanding Ontario\u2019s Housing Affordability Challenge: A Big Data Evolution<\/em>\u201d, it finds there are five million empty bedrooms in the province, while one in eight Ontarians have too few to suit their needs.<\/p>\n<p>A full 2.2 million of those bedrooms are within the City of Toronto, where half of all residents have too many compared to the 20 per cent considered \u201cshelter-poor\u201d. According to the report, only 350,000 bedrooms are\u00a0needed to close the city&#8217;s gap.<\/p>\n<p>CEO Paul Smetanin says it\u2019s a clear imbalance between haves and have-nots, yet not widely realized by the public. \u201cIf this was happening to our food chain or water supply, we would have a visceral reaction,\u201d he stated. \u201cBut because it\u2019s happening in a very slow-burning housing market, it\u2019s like heating up the frog very slowly in the pan \u2013 it doesn\u2019t notice until it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not as though those with too many rooms can, or are willing to, return them to rental stock \u2013 more gentle density\u00a0must be built to meet Ontarians\u2019 needs argues Smetanin. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the missing middle \u2013 townhouses, triplexes, duplexes\u2026 When you have a look at what\u2019s been produced, that\u2019s always been squeezed for preference of single-detached or mid- to high-rise,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The report suggests $150 billion will need to be spent over the next decade to accommodate Toronto&#8217;s housing needs, and that the majority should be purpose-built rental to improve affordability; total rental stock has decreased 30 per cent in the GTHA since 1990, with new condo builds outnumbering them 10 to one.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/could-laneway-housing-be-the-answer-to-torontos-hot-housing-market\/\">Could Laneway Housing Be the Answer to Toronto\u2019s Hot Housing Market?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>The Hurdles Facing Gentle Density<\/h2>\n<p>Toronto&#8217;s market suffers from a\u00a0perfect storm of steep land prices and highly restrictive zoning.\u00a0 Similar to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/is-the-ontario-government-responsible-for-soaring-gta-home-prices\/\">the \u201cgreen belt\u201d<\/a> that limits\u00a0outward development in the province\u2019s agricultural lands, much of the city is cinched by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mapto.ca\/maps\/2017\/3\/4\/the-yellow-belt\" target=\"_blank\">so-called \u201cyellow belt\u201d<\/a> \u2013 large swaths of the city designated only for residential detached homes. New homes built within these zones must be detached, cannot exceed 10 metres in height, and can only be for residential use.<\/p>\n<p>Gentle density also isn\u2019t particularly profitable; not only does it require larger quantities of high-priced land, but it doesn\u2019t offer developers as much opportunity to recoup their costs. Why build a few units at ground level when thousands can be built vertically, within the same footprint?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s becoming more of an emerging issue even in \u2018burbs of the 905, traditionally the territory for detached homes\u00a0with spacious lots. According to a <a href=\"http:\/\/business.financialpost.com\/personal-finance\/mortgages-real-estate\/dream-of-that-single-family-home-in-the-suburbs-fading-fast-as-highrises-move-in\" target=\"_blank\">report by the <em>National Post\u2019s<\/em> Garry Marr<\/a>, condos are trumping ground-oriented housing as far as Hamilton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHamilton didn\u2019t even have a condo market eight years ago, you couldn\u2019t recover your costs,\u201d stated local builder Jeff Paikin to Marr. \u201cNow there are a few projects that are planned or are being built. It\u2019s even hard to get the land for townhomes. Detached homes? Forget it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That there\u2019s not enough supply to go around has long been a culprit behind unsustainable real estate price growth in the Golden Horseshoe. However, a new report out this week indicates the province doesn\u2019t just need more housing \u2013 it needs the right kind of housing. It finds the GH &#8211; and especially the Greater [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":12349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understanding Ontario&#039;s Missing Middle Market | Zoocasa Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is Ontario&#039;s missing middle market, and how does it contribute to rising home prices? 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A new report sheds light on the need for more gentle density...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/where-has-all-the-low-rise-gone-understanding-ontarios-missing-middle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zoocasa Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-25T19:38:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-25T19:44:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Missing-Middle-Market.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"408\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Penelope Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Penelope Graham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/where-has-all-the-low-rise-gone-understanding-ontarios-missing-middle\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/where-has-all-the-low-rise-gone-understanding-ontarios-missing-middle\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Penelope Graham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9a2554dc39c550f5ef3339b25aa1f09c\"},\"headline\":\"Where Has All the Low-Rise Gone? 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