HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Atlantic Provinces > Halifax > Business, Politics & the Economy


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #61  
Old Posted Oct 23, 2020, 6:07 PM
DigitalNinja DigitalNinja is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 964
Quote:
Originally Posted by Good Baklava View Post
Council is not just focused on peninsula development; Mill Cove, Wright’s Cove, Shannon Park, Seton Ridge, and Lovett Lake are all large-scale projects whose developers have barely touched a shovel. Even King’s Wharf isn’t close to halfway completed.

As for the wilderness areas, anything worth protecting can’t possibly survive in smaller parks. Habitat fragmentation is a primary culprit threatening SAR. Growth can still occur along corridors leading downtown. Not every city’s footprint is perfectly radial, nor should it be. Take my word, Haligonians of tomorrow will be happy not to have a sea of Mississauga-like suburbs.

Sure, young street makes it harder for drivers, but easier for transit users. Transit projects are land development projects as well. Much of the development along Robie and Young has been expedited by transit improvement.
Many of those areas you have mentioned are not approved yet or are majority apartments/condo's.

Mill Cove is complete and nothing in the pipeline beyond a vision for a fast ferry and a few waterfront townhouses U/C that are super high priced.

Wright's cove is mostly condo's/apartments, the condo fees being charged there combined with the price make them unattractive to buyers and they had a difficult time selling them. (Same goes for Kings Wharf condo's)

Shannon park is a vision and doesn't even have a proper plan yet.

Seton ridge again is mostly apartments with a few homes.

Lovett Lake is going through the planning process now.

The only one of those developments that would appeal to the majority of people looking for a house is Lovett Lake.

Not everyone wants to live in Condo's or apartments. It really isn't the cultural norm here like it is in other countries.

What is needed is a dense suburb development with a lot of mixed use, apartments and homes. Apartment buildings should all have underground parking to maximize space use and density (Not like the surface parking in Bedford West that has resulted in some apartments being spaced way out.

Planning rules increase costs for developers and results in "Higher quality appearance" I say that because the homes that are being built are structurally not worth the prices they are asking for them.

There is no reason that a 1800-2000 sq ft new home cannot be built for somewhere between $300-$400k There is super high demand for new homes around the city. Take a look at Bedford West on viewpoint in the new area that quite literally just opened up. Almost everything is sold and there are 11 new homes pending right now.

Don't get me wrong I'm not asking for silly suburbs like Glen Arbour or other such places that are a waste of space. I am asking for a dense multi use development that is smartly designed with affordable homes. Which there seems to be not only resistance from developers wanting to make more money but also planning rules and lengthy approval time from council.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #62  
Old Posted Oct 23, 2020, 8:28 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalNinja View Post
Not everyone wants to live in Condo's or apartments. It really isn't the cultural norm here like it is in other countries.
I would have to say this is an "urban legend". Dad jokes aside, many places we now imagine as apartment-based cities have only become so relatively recently. Market and transportation trends of the latter 20th century never encouraged the development of quality apartments in North America. Per square metre suburbs are cheaper to the consumer, but many underestimate the cost of transportation associated with them. Over the last 20 years we've seen many new family friendly apartment-based districts across larger Canadian cities, so there's definitely a shift in culture underway.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalNinja View Post
What is needed is a dense suburb development with a lot of mixed use, apartments and homes. Apartment buildings should all have underground parking to maximize space use and density (Not like the surface parking in Bedford West that has resulted in some apartments being spaced way out.

Don't get me wrong I'm not asking for silly suburbs like Glen Arbour or other such places that are a waste of space. I am asking for a dense multi use development that is smartly designed with affordable homes. Which there seems to be not only resistance from developers wanting to make more money but also planning rules and lengthy approval time from council.
Despite my previous antagonism to your comments, I have to agree with a lot of this, especially underground parking. I think there's too much of a divide between the "super tall" and "super-sprawl". Seems like you favour pre-war neighbourhoods à la Jane Jacobs (Even though I dislike her cult of personality), and would like to see something similar to the nicer old peninsula neighbourhoods but with a modern twist. If the planning department were to mandate that new communities take this form, imagine how overbearing it would appear to the public and developers given how planners are already misunderstood creatures. Even if planners were to actually draft a plan that merely encouraged dense mixed-use suburbs, I don't think it would even come close to approval. Another potential problem is that if our dream neighbourhood is very attractive to live in, a single detached house of modern size would be more expensive.
__________________
Haligonian in exile.

Last edited by Good Baklava; Oct 23, 2020 at 8:38 PM. Reason: forgot a word
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #63  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2020, 12:50 AM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
This reminded me of the discussion about the urban footprint. Not much room to grow on the Halifax side, and the footprint of development is funneled farther away from the urban core. It's hard to imagine how the transportation bottlenecks that exist combined with the large share of protected land near the urban core couldn't put upward pressure on land and housing prices.



https://wrweo.ca/wp/2018/07/19/halif...to-cped-today/
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #64  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2020, 3:44 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
This reminded me of the discussion about the urban footprint. Not much room to grow on the Halifax side, and the footprint of development is funneled farther away from the urban core. It's hard to imagine how the transportation bottlenecks that exist combined with the large share of protected land near the urban core couldn't put upward pressure on land and housing prices.



https://wrweo.ca/wp/2018/07/19/halif...to-cped-today/
I appreciate this interesting find, but it can’t answer the question as to why housing prices have climbed. I could bring out a map of London Ontario, and say that its lack of protected space near the core, new land acquisition, combined with its road network make it affordable; except that statement is false for many reasons. Urban containment as a cause for price spikes is a common fallacy. How we make use of available land is a better place to look.
__________________
Haligonian in exile.

Last edited by Good Baklava; Dec 1, 2020 at 9:02 AM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #65  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2020, 3:50 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
I also wanted to add that being in proximity to the core doesn’t always make it more accessible. Clayton park may be closer to the core, but if Bedford had a fast ferry it could have better access and lower travel times.
__________________
Haligonian in exile.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #66  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2020, 4:44 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
Quote:
Originally Posted by Good Baklava View Post
I also wanted to add that being in proximity to the core doesn’t always make it more accessible. Clayton park may be closer to the core, but if Bedford had a fast ferry it could have better access and lower travel times.
Is there an example from recent years of metro Halifax building infrastructure that significantly cut travel times to some new area? Maybe the Burnside Expressway will be an example of this when completed.

It's interesting to note that Bedford waterfront development is pretty much stalled and in another development thread posters were noting that some of the development along the Bedford Highway seems smaller than it should be, perhaps because of very old planning rules.

The answer to where housing development should go often seems to be "anywhere but here" during each specific public consultation, with HRM by Design having carved out a reasonable exception to that.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #67  
Old Posted Nov 4, 2020, 10:53 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
Is there an example from recent years of metro Halifax building infrastructure that significantly cut travel times to some new area? Maybe the Burnside Expressway will be an example of this when completed.

It's interesting to note that Bedford waterfront development is pretty much stalled and in another development thread posters were noting that some of the development along the Bedford Highway seems smaller than it should be, perhaps because of very old planning rules.

The answer to where housing development should go often seems to be "anywhere but here" during each specific public consultation, with HRM by Design having carved out a reasonable exception to that.
New areas is a pretty narrow scope, since most improvements are in existing areas and that includes all modes of transportation. The Burnside expressway won’t help with congestion in the long term, it’s mostly an avenue for new growth. Bedford’s woes extend to more than just the size of development, there’s something not quite right about the urban morphology on Larry U. There was a column in either the CBC or Herald demolishing Larry U a few years ago, but for some reason that article and all others by that author had been deleted. I could be wrong but I seem to remember Mill Cove was stalled because of problems with the transportation plan, which is understandable given how many people from the area commute downtown. If the ferry proposals to Larry Uteck and Mill cove go through it would be conducive to density around the terminals while easing pain on the Bedford highway. I’m just waiting for the day Mill Cove happens, it’s a sleeping beauty that will probably need another revision to its district layout.
__________________
Haligonian in exile.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #68  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2020, 6:03 PM
atbw atbw is offline
Closed account
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Posts: 401
Bedford Waterfront could really, really be lively. And you could fit a substantial neighbourhood in what is currently the Sobeys parking lot.

I feel like we always keep coming back to building these pockets of density, giving the suburbs enough of a downtown/high street area to ease the demand on the peninsula.

I don’t need the best dining in my neighbourhood, or the busiest shopping street. But I’d like to be able to walk over to the grocery store when I forgot something, or stop at a coffee shop after a morning walk. Which right now, leaves me with downtown Halifax or Dartmouth.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #69  
Old Posted Nov 5, 2020, 6:12 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
Quote:
Originally Posted by atbw View Post
Bedford Waterfront could really, really be lively. And you could fit a substantial neighbourhood in what is currently the Sobeys parking lot.
People have been complaining about slow development at the Bedford waterfront since when I lived in that area around 2000. There is that big area of fill that nothing has been built on that has been there for, I guess, over a decade now.

The development on the other side of Mill Cove is okay but so low density and isolated that it will never be very vibrant.

And as far as I know there's no good path across the railway tracks around the Sobeys. The sewage treatment plant began the tradition of choosing prime sites for such infrastructure.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #70  
Old Posted Nov 30, 2020, 7:54 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
Article on affordable housing projects:
https://canada.constructconnect.com/...ousing-program

Looks good although the scale of the new projects is pretty small compared to the number of increased homeless, and the housing will take a year to become available (if it is built to schedule). They don't provide an overall survey of all affordable housing projects happening.

The scale of the issue so far is pretty small compared to the financial capacity of the municipality and province and overall growth and amount of construction. Some people have been displaced from rooming houses due to gentrification and development. That also tends to be a pretty small scale issue in that most of those places don't have very many units. The total increase in the number of homeless people in the articles works out to 1 medium sized apartment building. I'm sure it's also a challenge to connect the actual people who need housing with the units appropriate for them at the right time.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #71  
Old Posted Dec 1, 2020, 10:48 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
It’s good to see some initiative, it won’t solve the issue in one shot but will prevent it from getting worse. I wonder if delegating the management of this housing to multiple small nonprofits makes them more sustainable to operate in the long run preventing units from falling into disrepair.
__________________
Haligonian in exile.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #72  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2020, 4:31 PM
Patrick Matthews Patrick Matthews is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2019
Posts: 72
Quote:
Originally Posted by atbw View Post
Bedford Waterfront could really, really be lively. And you could fit a substantial neighbourhood in what is currently the Sobeys parking lot.
Every time I see the basin getting filled in I get angry. I cant fathom how it was ever acceptable to allow development behind current shorelines.

I dont disagree - just on a tangent, if any development went there Im sure we'd see more infilling.


I know these had to be approved, etc etc. The main road went along the shore and the railway probably built a causeway originally. I know the property lines are approved but doesnt mean I have to like it. Meanwhile, the cul de sac across the basin has private homeowners blatantly infilling well beyond their property lines.

Reply With Quote
     
     
  #73  
Old Posted Dec 2, 2020, 5:54 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Matthews View Post
Every time I see the basin getting filled in I get angry. I cant fathom how it was ever acceptable to allow development behind current shorelines.

I dont disagree - just on a tangent, if any development went there Im sure we'd see more infilling.


I know these had to be approved, etc etc. The main road went along the shore and the railway probably built a causeway originally. I know the property lines are approved but doesnt mean I have to like it. Meanwhile, the cul de sac across the basin has private homeowners blatantly infilling well beyond their property lines.


I fail to see the issue here. Is it environmental? Is it over losing portions of an already rising ocean? Nostalgia from the old shoreline?

Should we be upset over centuries of land reclamation in the Annapolis valley?
__________________
Haligonian in exile.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #74  
Old Posted Jan 4, 2021, 5:49 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
I've recently been watching some of comedian David Mitchell's work, and I was delighted to see he writes the occasional article.

I know this is a few years old, but it hearkens back to the debate about housing affordability, developers, and the renaming of streets. Essentially, a street name which is also a double entendre (Bell End), is accused of lowering housing prices. The article spent a long time describing the neighbourhood and history of the word, and this is written in a British context, but I've extracted some key points for your amusement:

Quote:
How Hitler could solve our housing crisis
David Mitchell - The Guardian
07/01/2018
"Thanks to the unhappy residents of Bell End, I’ve come up with a foolproof way to stop house prices soaring"
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...housing-crisis

It’s unusually innocent not to realise Bell End sounds rude, but it’s perhaps even odder to live there for 40 years and still find it amusing. Chris Tranter must get a lot of value out of his fridge magnets. Surely, few long-term residents, even if they don’t mind the name, would have the sheer force of impish will to continue to find it funny.

Meanwhile, the name’s downsides are more tangible. The petition cites “children being bullied and teased at school” and residents also claim that it has a negative impact on property prices: a Bell End semi would apparently fetch £60,000 less than its equivalent on nearby Uplands Avenue. That’s quite an expensive joke. I don’t blame them for wanting the council to change it.

But it gives me an idea of how councils can use their naming powers to alleviate the current housing crisis – in particular, the ridiculous prices in London meaning that, for most people, the housing ladder is dangling hundreds of feet above their heads from the bottom of an oligarch’s money-laundering zeppelin.

Any political pressure on developers to build affordable housing is outweighed by the economic incentive to flog more luxury flats to the super-rich. But, if councils can name the streets, suddenly they have some power: “If you won’t build affordable housing, we have a way of making it affordable. Welcome to Nob-cheese Avenue, adjoining Hitler Lane. Go straight up Jimmy Savile’s Passage and you’re there.”
__________________
Haligonian in exile.

Last edited by Good Baklava; Jan 4, 2021 at 6:19 PM. Reason: Added link.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #75  
Old Posted May 16, 2022, 3:01 PM
q12's Avatar
q12 q12 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Halifax
Posts: 4,515
Halifax bucking the national trend with sales still up when most of the country saw a decline due to rising interest rates.

Quote:
March home sales and new listings ease back following surge in February
Ottawa, ON, May 16, 2022 – Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales were down in April 2022.

Statistics released today by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) show national home sales were down in April 2022.

Home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems dropped by 12.6% between March and April 2022. The decline placed monthly activity at the lowest level since the summer of 2020.

While the national decline was led by the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) simply because of its size, sales were down in 80% of local markets, with most other large markets posting double-digit month-over-month declines in April. The exceptions were Victoria, Montreal and Halifax-Dartmouth where sales edged up slightly.
https://creastats.crea.ca/en-CA/


Quote:
I thought it was a joke': N.S. homes are selling for well over the asking prices

Nova Scotia's red hot real estate market continues to surprise, with hundreds of homes selling for tens of thousands of dollars over asking prices -- making some homeowners instant millionaires.

A home in the Hammonds Plains, N.S., area was still on YouTube Wednesday, although it had already sold for $1,000,314 — some $400,000 over asking.
https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/i-though...ices-1.5899525

This 2,000 sq ft. house (including the garage) out in the suburbs (not on a lake or oceanfront) that sold for $346,500 in 2017 just sold for $1,000,314.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #76  
Old Posted May 16, 2022, 4:13 PM
Keith P.'s Avatar
Keith P. Keith P. is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 7,982
Quote:
Originally Posted by q12 View Post
https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/i-though...ices-1.5899525

This 2,000 sq ft. house (including the garage) out in the suburbs (not on a lake or oceanfront) that sold for $346,500 in 2017 just sold for $1,000,314.
It's like the crazed mania that happened when Popeye's chicken stand opened up. Locals here seem unable to control themselves and often take leave of their senses.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #77  
Old Posted May 16, 2022, 4:22 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
There are a bunch of things happening at once. It is getting more expensive to borrow money but constructions still may not keep up with demand. The supply chain and labour issues make it harder to build.

I think another change is that Halifax has become more popular nationally and it's easier for a lot of people to work remotely and for businesses to set up shop there. If NS improved its tax rates it would be really attractive. Maybe this will be possible if demographics continue to improve.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #78  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2022, 12:31 PM
q12's Avatar
q12 q12 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Halifax
Posts: 4,515


https://rentals.ca/national-rent-report


Nova Scotia's average rent is now more than Ontario...
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #79  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2022, 9:07 PM
Hali87 Hali87 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Calgary
Posts: 4,465
"All property types" as expressed in that graphic is kind of a weird way of looking at/comparing this kind of thing, but the linked article breaks down the data in more interesting ways.


Source: same link

According to that graphic Halifax is the most expensive part of the country to take out a new lease in outside of (the most expensive parts of) BC and Ontario. All other cities in Canada outside those two regions are less expensive on average in terms of units that are actually available. This includes places like Montreal and Calgary as well as Hamilton, Oshawa, and Surrey. Despite this, the Halifax prices are just below the national average overall, for both 1 and 2BR.

It also seems to confirm what many people have been observing which is a dramatic increase in price for the units that are actually available here compared to what people are used to. CMHC data from October 2021 put the average market rents of a 1 or 2BR in Halifax at $1,335 and $1,530 respectively. This includes the 1% of units that were vacant, but with that in mind is a reasonably good proxy for "average rents of occupied units". The 2022 prices in the Rentals.ca graphic for vacant units are $1,711 and $2,169.

At the same time, because of the current rent controls, it's unlikely that the average rent of occupied units (~99% of units) has gone up much, and most of the upward pressure would have been coming from units that were built or renovated in the last year and are now occupied. I'm not sure if the study areas are the same but new apartments in the suburbs/exurbs don't tend to be much cheaper than the regional average for new units at this point, and the older buildings don't tend to have any vacancies. It was pretty common up until now for my cohort to move to a new apartment every year or two based on better deals, locations, for the novelty of it, or because they had problems with the landlord or the property, but there is now a major disincentive for tenants to move out of their current apartment (everything that's available is a bad deal compared to what they're paying now, as long as they stay in the same place) and there's are also very limited options in terms of units that are available.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #80  
Old Posted Nov 29, 2022, 1:30 PM
q12's Avatar
q12 q12 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Halifax
Posts: 4,515

Last edited by q12; Nov 29, 2022 at 1:41 PM.
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Atlantic Provinces > Halifax > Business, Politics & the Economy
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 9:46 PM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.