FocusCanada Forums

Home prices set to soar

June 15, 2006 - 2:51 pm
By: James Munroe


The average price of a new home in Toronto is $395,000.

That could soon seem like a bargain.

In the name of saving energy, the cost of buying a home could soon soar $2,000 to $10,000 depending on the level of energy efficiency.

The new higher standards could involve things like insulation, ventilation and energy-efficient furnaces and appliances.

A lot of people are wondering how much the final pricetag will be. Victor Fume, the president of the Ontario Homebuilders Association, said his organization is in favour of improving energy efficiency but in small measured steps so as to not make new homes unattainable.

The bottom line is new homes will cost more next year due to energy standards: how much more is yet to be determined.

A new home would cost $4,000 to $5,000 more if the code requires houses to meet energy star standards, now followed by about 100 builders and growing in popularity, Fume said.

The cost rises to $12,000 or $15,000 in so-called Energuide 80 homes with 10 inches of r-32 value insulation in walls and 18 inches of r-60 value insulation in ceilings, all of which requires substantial changes in construction techniques, he added.

"We need to strike a balance between energy efficiency and the cost of a new home."

You just know that builders are going to all use this as an excuse to raise the prices even higher than that...bottom line is people will pay that much, and its sad.

Energy-efficiency, ideally, is a no-brainer when buying a new home or retrofitting an older one. A lot of the time, it tends to force people to use older, less-efficient solutions. It's too bad that folks can't see beyond the initial outlay.

up up and more up is what I say.

Tends to make people stay put and renovate.

I do know a good renovator.

And NOS and I finally agree on something. People want fancy this, fancy that. It's all nice until you move into your cold home in the winter, hot in the summer and your heating/cooling bills are out of control.

I'm paying my builder for foam sprayed insulation in all exterior walls and better building materails all around (Eg. 2X10, 12" on centre joists). If you know anything about building, you want the house to stand as well as the materials you put into it. Do it once and the problems disappear.

*cries*

I hate this. I've been looking at places in North Bay and there is nothing good within the 130k range that doesn't need big time repairs. This sucks.

I've been talking to people looking at houses in the 180k range and they say the same.

North Bay housing market SUCKS!!!!

glad I bought when I did!

Geez the way even condo prices are rising, on paper I pwn more than 50% of my condo again just because of the rise in condo prices. This is nuts :ph34r:

NefCanuck

Yeah, even when I was looking into houses last year, the price went from $75,000-$100,000 for a starter home/fixer-upper, to $100,000-$185,000 this year. Guess that pre-approval I got for $120K seems pretty inadequate now...lol...

Glad I live in the housing projects on the south side (PMQ's) whereas I have a 1200+ sq ft, 4 bedroom rowhouse for less than $550 per month...