Skip to content

Sudbury’s housing market hottest in Ontario

Ontario’s housing market is red hot, and Greater Sudbury is leading the way, according to figures from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.
250712_housing_market
Sudbury’s real estate agents anxiously wait for the hundreds of new homes that are being built across the booming city, as the current vacancy rate now stands at less than two per cent. File photo.

Ontario’s housing market is red hot, and Greater Sudbury is leading the way, according to figures from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.

Property values have increase by 19 per cent in Sudbury since 2008, compared to 17 per cent for the province as a whole. Carl Young, the president elect of the Sudbury Real Estate Board, said Sudbury’s vacancy rate now stands at less than two per cent and is expected to dip to one per cent by the end of 2012.


“We could definitely use more listings on the market,” Young said. “No doubt about it.”

The vacancy rate stood at around 3.5 per cent during the strike at Vale in 2009, and is currently about 2.5 per cent for Ontario as a whole. Housing prices are expected to increase substantially this year in Greater Sudbury, Young added.

“The (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) predicted a 5.5 per cent increase in housing prices for Sudbury for this year,” he said. “And their predictions are typically on the conservative side.

“So the vacancy rate is definitely trending down, and affordable housing is definitely getting more difficult to obtain.”

Sudbury’s real estate agents – which number 350 and growing – are anxiously waiting for the hundreds of new homes that are being built across the booming city.

The new listings are key to easing overwhelming demand for housing, Young said. Multiple offers are now common on houses, with many being sold within days or even hours of going on the market.

Shortages are particularly severe for homes being sold for between $200,000-$300,000, particularly in the South End, where demand is highest, Young said.

“Take semi-detached homes, for example. Whereas before you could buy them for less than $300,000, now they’re selling for more than $300,000. The new ones, anyway.”

While assessments are up, Tony Derro, the city’s manager of taxation, says that doesn’t mean there’s going to be a property tax windfall for the city, or that homeowners should expect a spike in their property taxes.

“Increased assessments don’t necessarily mean increased taxes,” he said. “It’s just a reflection of the fact that assessment in this area is very high as a result of real estate activity.”

While property values are higher, the city still budgets to raise the same amount from property taxes, regardless of assessment increases, he said. However, properties whose value has increased faster than the average of 19 per cent can expect to pay more.

The flip side of that is homes whose value has increased less than 19 per cent will pay less.

“So it all depends on where the property’s value falls as compared to the average,” Derro said.

According to MPAC’s report, Sudbury’s property values are increasing rapidly because of “high resource prices that have created a mining boom and the diversification of local economies.

“Sudbury now has two colleges, a university and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine,” the report said. “Construction will soon be underway on the school of architecture in the downtown core. All of these schools have had an increased demand in enrollment and have had to build more dormitories on their campuses to house students.”

Vale’s $2 billion clean air project to upgrade its smelting operation in Sudbury, plans for Xstrata Nickel to follow suit and the fact Sudbury was chosen as the location for a new Cliff Resource’s chromite plant all adds to soaring demand for housing, MPAC says.

“As a result of a growing local economy and employment opportunities, Sudbury is experiencing a shortage of new listings, helping to increase the price of homes and encourage construction of new condominiums.

"The availability of new condominiums and homes, and apartment vacancy rates, are expected to decline further, which has also triggered construction of apartment complexes in recent years.”

An average of 340,000 residential property sales take place every year in Ontario and an average of 60,000 new residential properties are constructed.

The MPAC report shows that the value of residential property in most communities has increased since 2008 and underscores the continuing strength of the real estate market.

For example, if a property sold for $350,000 on Jan. 1, 2008, then, on average, the average sale price of that property on Jan. 1, 2012, would be $409,500 – an increase of 17 per cent.


 

Northern Ontario let the way in terms of rising real estate prices. Home prices increased by 29 per cent in Timmins, 26 per cent in Thunder Bay, 25 per cent in Sault Ste. Marie and 15 per cent in the Parry Sound and North Bay areas. Prices in the Toronto area increased substantially, as well, by a range of 10-28 per cent. In contrast, Barrie saw prices go up by six per cent, while home prices in Windsor were flat.


Read the full report at www.mpac.on.ca.

Posted by Arron Pickard 


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.




Darren MacDonald

About the Author: Darren MacDonald

Read more