Due to COVID-19 and other factors, prospective new-home buyers are more carefully weighing location, housing type, design and amenities – and affordability – than ever before.

To help you understand all the issues to make a better, more informed homebuying decision, we went to some of the industry’s top builders and developers for expert advice, as part of our 2021 Builders' Annual.

What advice would you like to offer new-home buyers, as we approach 2022?

Prices are stabilizing, interest rates remain extremely low, and buyers should be aware that opportunity will increase accordingly.

Despite price increases, homes just outside the inner GTA, in areas such as West Niagara, Brantford and Brant County, remain affordable relative to their GTA counterparts. Work-from-home arrangements make these more-affordable locations practical.

However, the real problem is supply, and buyers should research opportunities diligently. Buyers should also investigate the status of developments when they purchase, to avoid projects that have too many hurdles to cross for approvals or have closing dates too far into the future. There may be too much uncertainty in those projects.

Buyers should make more informed decisions.

There’s been a lot of discussion about wellness and new home design to address emerging needs coming out of the pandemic. What’s your take on this?

It has become clear that quality of life is paramount in buyers’ decision-making.

Home offices and study areas, new, faster and more reliable Internet technology supply, amenity spaces within the properties, and complete communities are top of buyers’ lists.

For condominium units, we are designing larger balconies and incorporating more amenities within and around the buildings.

Losani Homes has always had the most robust customization program of any builder in Canada to meet the various needs of buyers.

What is it about your company or projects that differentiates you in the marketplace, that you’d like to stress to prospective new-home buyers?

Homeownership has never been as important for lifestyle and safety. All current and upcoming Losani Homes communities keep this in mind, incorporating direct waterfront access, walking distance to shopping, transit and community centres, built-in community parks, or for commuters, easy access to highways.

Our communities and homes constantly get above market resale values. We are also amongst the preeminent homebuilders that offer choice and affordability within the most attractive alternate GTA communities.

How is your company addressing the affordability issue?

Choice and location allow us to offer the most selection at affordable pricing across southwestern Ontario.

We currently have more than 8,000 new residential units currently at or near a stage that they can be offered for sale in several markets. We are petitioning municipalities to facilitate their approvals and relieve the strain on supply.

We are also working with municipal staff and politicians to obtain approvals for functional build forms that reduce cost and expand variety, such as back-to-back homes and mixed-use communities.

We recently had a federal election, and all the major parties promised to address housing supply and affordability. If you had the opportunity to speak directly to the Prime Minister on this topic, what would your advice be?

A lack of supply is absolutely the dominant reason why we have an affordability issue. If municipal staff and council would approve the applications in the pipeline for approvals, tens of thousands of units would be available immediately. Prior to the pandemic, our industry struggled with the drawn-out municipal approval systems. Now with municipal staff mainly working from home, and at a time when the release of new housing starts is needed more than ever, the struggle has become far worse.

In addition to the delays at the municipal level, roughly 950,000 acres of land within the most affordable portion, Ontario Greater Golden Horseshoe Growth Plan Area is now subject to a moratorium on development, as declared by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council in April of this year. This area is commonly known as the Haldimand Tract. More than 1,500 sold, draft-approved or potential new homes were stopped from development in 2020 alone on account of land claims. Inaction by the federal government in dealing with this crisis has cost Canadians their affordable new homes, prevented thousands more from achieving homeownership, and has put any homebuilder looking to invest in new home development at significant risk.

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