9 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,July 15,2021 insidehalton.com 905-469-3232 1459 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville delmanor.com Retirement Living located in the heart of Oakville. In-person tours now available. come a common practice of the buying process. Multi- hour lineups occur around the region for the release of units in a new develop- ment. The price of property at every level has risen steadi- ly over the last decade, and it has created a situation where becoming a home- owner is a daunting, and for some, seemingly impossi- ble task. Unfortunately for those looking to buy their first house, the reasons for the steady price increase are complicated and the solu- tions currently in place fall well below addressing the demand. Mike Collins-Williams is the CEO of the West End Home Builders' Associa- tion. His organization rep- resents roughly 300 compa- nies involved in residential construction. "Housing prices are ex- tremely complex. There is no single issue you can point to or push a different lever that's going to have a direct 100-per-cent correla- tion to pricing. I would say the primary item impact- ing housing prices is an im- balance in supply and de- mand across all of southern Ontario," said Collins-Wil- liams. To put it simply, there are more people looking for homes in Halton than there are homes available on the market. That supply and demand problem is at the centre of the issue, but there are other factors at play. For example, one un- foreseen side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic was a steep increase in the cost of lumber. That increase is ex- pected to level off, but builders report the cost of wood resulted in as much as a $40,000 increase to the cost of construction for a single-family home. There's also longer-term factors, including a short- age in skilled tradespeople and a general flight away from denser parts of the Greater Toronto Area to- ward places like Halton. It's all combined to bring the cost of a house to re- markable heights. "For better or for worse, that means people with the most resources win those bidding wars and that is pushing the price of hous- ing up significantly. I think a good example would be, from 2010 to 2015, the popu- lation of Ontario increased by about 600,000. In the next five years, 2015 to 2020, the population increased by a million, yet the number of housing units built stayed virtually the same in each of those periods," said Col- lins-Williams. Government officials have recognized the issue the pricing has created. Halton Regional Council approved a 10-year Compre- hensive Housing Strategy to help address the need in the community by setting aside $107 million to create new housing opportunities. Andrew Balahura, di- rector of housing services with Halton Region and chief operating officer of Halton Community Hous- ing Corporation (HCHC), said housing costs need to be dealt with. "It is important to ad- dress housing affordability in order to ensure that our region continues to be so- cially and economically di- verse. We need to retain our young people in the region, ensure that an appropriate mix of housing is available for Halton residents of all incomes and that the forms of housing made available address demographic needs," said Balahura. HCHC is the largest pro- vider of assisted and afford- able housing in the region with a portfolio of 2,210 units. The demand for af- fordable housing in the re- gion is so great that, despite having all those units, there are currently over 3,000 ap- plicants on the organiza- tion's wait-list. Balahura said the cur- rent housing price situa- tion is partly a result of just how successful Halton has been. "Housing isn't just about bricks and mortar -- its bigger than that. It's about safe, secure communities; it's about economic and so- cially diverse communities; it's about having a sense of place, and I think one of the reasons so many people outside of Halton are de- manding to come here is be- cause we have that," said Balahura. He believes addressing this demand would require a long list of changes, in- cluding dedicated funding support from higher levels of government and more purpose-built rental hous- ing. NEWS Continued from page 8 HALTON REAL ESTATE BY THE NUMBERS Median total income of households (2016 Census) Oakville $113,666 Halton Hills $106,349 Milton $104,730 Halton Average $103,009 Burlington $93,588 TOTAL UNIT SALES (MPAC SALES DATA) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Oakville 4,523 5,303 4,917 4,296 3,832 Halton Hills 1,095 1,332 1,196 971 1,104 Milton 2,981 3,191 3,193 2,951 3,380 Halton Average 12,739 13,702 12,874 11,423 11,724 Burlington 4,140 3,876 3,568 3,204 3,408 AVERAGE SALE PRICE (MPAC SALES DATA) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Oakville $757,053 $903,660 $1,006,258 $988,323 $1,034,221 Halton Hills $541,719 $613,374 $714,876 $730,354 $783,403 Milton $524,392 $597,154 $648,680 $649,329 $711,918 Halton Average $614,554 $727,467 $816,320 $802,931 $835,069 Burlington $543,058 $632,897 $738,593 $717,931 $750,017