Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
You would think. It's a little sad that the skylines of most urban neighbourhoods in Canada's larger cities have been completely transformed over the last decade, while Osborne Village's is pretty much unchanged since the early 80s when Evergreen Place went up. There has been at least some development, but except for a couple of low/midrises along Wellington and I guess now the one by the Winter Club, almost all of it is 6 storeys or less.
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Winnipeg has an interesting housing stock, and I believe its unique characteristics are what is hindering high-rise and mid-rise development in our higher density neighborhoods.
I'd argue that:
- Winnipeg has a significantly older housing stock than most other Canadian cities
- We had and continue to have large swaths of land available for greenfield development not too distant from downtown
- While downtown is a major employment centre for sure, there are significant employment centres scattered around outer edges of the city as well meaning that residential development near the periphery isn't necessarily a hindrance to those that work on the outer edges, and for those that do commute downtown, commute times historically haven't been an issue
These factors mean that single detached housing in Winnipeg has and continues to be relatively cheap, so the trade-off between single detached housing (which is probably considered the most desirable type of housing by most people in North America) and apartment or condo living isn't that high, both in terms of monetary costs and time costs.
So when prospective citizens are considering living in an apartment versus living in a detached house, the cost differential is small compared to the differential in Toronto or Vancouver. The result is that while vacancy rates remain low, there isn't massive pent up demand for multi-family units in core areas, and for other reasons those that do demand multi-family units are choosing to locate in suburban areas which have seen significant investment in multi-family dwellings.
Like most Canadian cities, Winnipeg underwent an apartment tower (and to certain extent, office tower) boom in the 1970s and 1980s. Three of the main driving factors of the apartment tower boom in this era were driven by Federal policies, the high interest rate environment making detached housing costly, and high levels of immigration from European countries.
Into the 1990s, Winnipeg's population growth virtually stalled and demand for multi-family dwellings was nearly non-existent. By the mid 2000s, things have reversed and population growth is at record levels with the caveat that interest rates are still at all time lows which has pushed up housing prices across the country, but Winnipeg still remains one of the most affordable single-detached housing markets in Canada. The immigrants coming to Winnipeg today are different in the sense that they have more economic wealth with many actively choosing Winnipeg because of it's cheap housing market - how many large, brand new housings in new developments are occupied by multi-generational newly immigrated families? I'd wager it's many, and this is different than the choices that would have been made by the immigrants coming to Canada in the 1970s and 1980s.
In short, Winnipeg has a unique mix of immigration, land supply, older housing stock, neighborhoods relatively close to downtown, and dispersed employment centres which I believe all depress the price of housing here. The result is that the cost difference between single detached and rental/condo choices are relatively small, leading many to choose single detached. This ultimately depresses investment in multi-family dwellings, especially those in the core in need of renovation.