OTTAWA — The Canadian Homebuilders’ Association (CHBA) has released its 2024 Municipal Benchmarking Study, which reveals an across-the-country look at housing affordability challenges and what provinces are doing better than others.
In particular, the study examines how local development processes, approvals and charges impact housing affordability and housing supply in major housing markets.
It benchmarks municipalities based on three key development features: municipal fees charged on new residential development; length of time for residential development applications to move through the development application process; and features in place to help applicants navigate the development application process.
The report’s key findings include:
- The cities of Edmonton, Halifax and London rank highest overall.
- Looking at the municipalities ranked in the bottom 10, seven are in Ontario, and two are British Columbia’s largest municipalities that were studied.
- Municipal fees charged on new residential developments went up by an average of $27,500 for a low-rise home since the CHBA’s 2022 study, raising the new average in Canada for municipal fees in these cities to $82,600 (ranges from $8,700 to $195,000) at the time of the 2024 study.
- Municipal fees charged on new residential developments went up by an average of $3,000 for a highrise home since the 2022 study, raising the new average in Canada at the time of the 2024 study to $35,000 (ranges from roughly $1,600 to $134,400).
- The 2022-2031 period is on track to be the decade with the fewest homes built per new persons added to the Canadian population since at least 1972.
- A combination of a challenging economic backdrop and costly application processes are leading to fewer application submissions.
- Application submissions have fallen significantly since peaking in 2021, in both Ontario and British Columbia. The decline has been driven by site-plan and/or development permit applications.
- In contrast, more affordable markets, such as Alberta, have experienced an increase in application submissions.
- Approval timelines improved marginally from the previous study but remain high.
This study also includes the indirect costs to the construction process that accumulate on a development as its application goes through the application process, the CHBA states.
“Development charges, delays, and inefficient processes at the municipal level directly impact the price of homes and how many are built,” said CHBA CEO Kevin Lee in a statement.
“The purpose of this study is to facilitate dialogue with all levels of government, but particularly with municipal governments, on the effects of longer timelines, higher fees, and the level of efficiency of processes on housing affordability and outcomes.
“More needs to be done to address the housing crisis in Canada. The CHBA Benchmarking Study points out the barriers to getting more homes built and ways in which these barriers contribute to the cost of a new home.”
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