Westbrook Redevelopment Project

[fusili]

Originally Posted by Trogdor

London had lots of large units, all the corner suites were within the 1250+ SQFT range you referenced, and some of them were the worst selling units.

The market builds small units because that is what the market wants, and is willing to buy. You cannot feasibly build 1200 SQFT units that target the $350-400K range because you would lose money on every single unit you sell. Blame land prices, construction costs, regulations, or whatever, but Calgary is an expensive place to build High-Rise condos.

If you really want to encourage more family units, restrict the suburban land supply until the cost of a typical single-family home is higher than the economic cost of a comparable multi-family home. Somewhere in the $450-500K range for a starter home should do it. You will also need to provide better transit, schools, and parks since you will only have one car per unit.

Your best baby step option is to encourage more "family" sized units is in ground oriented housing in the inner-city where single-family house prices are already high (Marda loop, North Central etc) through some sort of bonusing or relaxation guideline. Once you've proven the demand there, you may see more High-Rise developers take note.

Or make multi-family easier to build by zoning for more of it, making the application process more stream lined and reducing the risk of appeals. Why piss off suburban home-buyers to make multi-family more affordable. Supply constraints just raise housing costs in general, which isn't good for anyone.