5 new residential subdivisions to be made inside Windsor. Windsor's new housing boom
For years, people have been talking about Windsor loosing it's population to the county and elsewhere and high vacancy rates [[rental vacancy rates have fallen to 4%). Most new subdivisions were proposed outside Windsor in the counties. In the past, there was plenty of vacant land in newer subdivisions to build homes on, but with all the new construction lately those lots are taken. Most new houses are those $350K+ homes. Now, 5 new subdivisions are being processed by the city inside of Windsor representing 300 new homes.
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/ne...ity-in-windsor
After going years without seeing an application to build a new subdivision in the city, Windsor building officials are processing the paper work on five smaller subdivision projects representing close to 300 new homes.
Though those projects aren’t expected to start until spring, they represent the strengthening in particular of residential construction in the area this year.
According to a Statistics Canada release Friday, the value of overall building permits has increased by 35.4 per cent year over year from June 2014. During that time, there was a decline of three per cent in the value of permits issued in Canada while Ontario enjoyed an increase of 7.3 per cent.
In the past three months the area has seen permits issued valued at $48.2 million [[April), $42.3 million [[May) and $53.1 million [[June).
“We’re through the roof with the number of applications we’re processing,” said John Revell, the City of Windsor’s chief building official.
“Residential construction is really driving these numbers.”
http://wpmedia.blogs.windsorstar.com...pg?w=950&h=649Joel Parent, below, and his coworkers are shown a the construction site of a home in the 2200 block of Gatwick Avenue on Friday, Aug. 7, 2015, in Windsor, Ont. Residential building permits are up for the first time in years. [[DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)
The Windsor metropolitan census area also includes Tecumseh, Amherstburg, LaSalle and Lakeshore.
That has been the location for most home starts in the past, but Windsor is now joining in the action.
In the second quarter of 2015, Windsor had more new single-family homes starts [[81 of 230) than any municipality in its census area.
“We haven’t seen it like this in a decade,” Revell said. “It’s right across the board, single-family homes, semis, apartments.
“The other thing we’re seeing is in-filling of pockets of land available in the city.”
Revell said based on what he knows is in the pipeline, he expects the current trend to continue.
The city is more than $24 million in residential construction ahead of last year’s total of $51.7 million at this time.
That translates into 145 single-family homes [[+34), 56 apartments [[+50), 75 townhouses [[+39) and 26 semi-detached dwellings [[-6).
“We’re still tied closely to the U.S. and the auto industry and we’re riding the winds of an American economy that’s getting stronger,” Revell said.
“When you start planning subdivisions, that’s a two or three-year commitment by a builder. That’s a belief in the future of the local economy.”
http://wpmedia.blogs.windsorstar.com...pg?w=950&h=638Workers unload shingles at the construction site of a new home in the 1000 block of Ivanhill Avenue on Friday, Aug. 7, 2015, in Windsor, Ont. Residential building permits are up for the first time in years. [[DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)
Joe Rauti, owner of J. Rauti Custom Homes and past president of the Greater Windsor Homebuilders Association, agreed things are improving.
“I’m optimistic about the future,” Rauti said. “The industry has been down since 2008, its time for it to come up again.”
Rauti said he senses there are more people coming into the area and expects to see the population beginning to grow modestly again.
“We’re getting a lot of people from outside the area, especially Toronto, who we’re building homes for,” Rauti said.
“They come and like it and they’re telling their friends and some of them are coming.
“They’re going crazy down there [[city hall) pulling [[building) permits, the population has to grow.”
While residential construction is largely driving the increase in permit values, Revell said there are a number of smaller projects and expansions among the area’s tool and die shops, mould makers and some auto dealerships.
“There isn’t one really big project, but a lot of smaller ones,” Revell said. “Incremental growth is exciting because those smaller investments have the biggest long-term impact. Companies do this when they’re confident in the business cycle.”
Jim Lyons, executive director of the Windsor Construction Association, said things have slowed and are in bit of holding pattern for the area’s heavy construction industry.
“We’re waiting for a few school projects to be tendered, a new city hall is coming up and Windsor utilities have a new water retention tank project that should be announced anytime now,” Lyons said.
“That’ll be a $30-million project, so it’ll be a big one.
“The future is going to be a little better, but it’s definitely residential that’s going right now.”
