residential
DEMOLITIONS: THE FORGOTTEN VARIABLE IN THE NEW HOUSING EQUATION
Often missing in conversations about new housing construction is the impact that demolition activity has on the net number of new homes that will ultimately be available for occupancy. The best example of this is in the City of Vancouver, where there were 5,885 single detached starts between 2011 and 2016, when the Census indicated the change in the City’s occupied detached stock was a net loss of 6,200 homes. Demolitions equate to approximately 15% of starts in a given year in Metro Vancouver, with this proportion remaining relatively
stable over the past decade (save for a blip during the Financial Crisis, when starts plummeted).
In a region such as this one, constrained as it is by water, mountains, the Agricultural Land Reserve, industrial land, the US border, and existing urban development, acknowledging the headwind that is demolition activity when evaluating new construction trends is paramount, particularly as we strive to ensure we’re building enough homes to accommodate our growing and changing population.
THE DEMOLITION ADMISSION: THE TEMPERING OF REAL GROWTH ›
60%
50%
25,000
40%
15,000
30%
20%
5,000
15%
10%
0
0%
-10%
-5000
HOUSING STARTS
DEMOLITIONS
DEMOLITION RATE
SOURCE: CANADA MORTGAGE & HOUSING CORPORATION & METRO VANCOUVER
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