Plenty of used semi and smaller homes available throughout HRM. Lots of demand for larger new builds (3+ bedroom) and contractors should continue with these. The issue is not availability of starter homes, it is the increased cost of all homes, especially smaller dwellings. It is more of an affordability issue than availability as most people would be willing to purchase larger homes if they could afford them (e.g., pre-covid pricing).

I grew up in base housing in CFB Shearwater and Greenwood. They were solidly built and could accommodate a family of five but were not luxurious. Never once did we notice we didn't have granite countertops.

Thank you. I've been saying for years, marble counter tops, hardwood floors, fancy fixtures, square footage per person etc... etc... etc... are all important factors. It also affects the rental market. Renters cant afford to rent a 2000 square foot home, and if they can afford to rent it, they probably have enough money to look at buying. The rental market is even more frightening. Someone needs to prioritize simple units. 200 square feet bachelors, 300 square foot one bedrooms, 500 square foot two rooms. Better rental units will even help the buying market. There are many renters who want to rent for a few years in a small unit before they buy, but $2000 rental units means they may never save enough to buy.

We need one and two bedroom houses with one bath for around 100 or 150-200k as a realistic starter home. Nobody can afford half million plus as starter home

I'm going to be selling my 2 bedroom condo in Dartmouth soon. Its about 1000 sq ft and will be under $350k. That'll at least give someone a nice place to live.

I built a 5 bedroom 5 bathroom single family home in BC over 3300 sq.ft as an owner builder for 575K. So a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom or 2 bedroom 2 bathroom starter home would be much less to build, but there is no money to be made by a general contractor. So people, need to start building their own homes if they want ones badly that they can afford, like we did, and my grandparents did after WW2. All the people on my grandparent's street in Saskatoon built their own homes on discounted land lots offered to veterans at the time. My grandmother built the kitchen....truly a different time with a different character of people willing todo what it takes to get ahead...

That's the problem... I have a land lot in Enfield, project and some downpayment. And I want to build a simple 2bd house to sell it, but no banks or government programs exist to lend me funds as a new developer

I just stumbled across your channel. I have some questions. I been living in my apartment for ten years. Is apartment insurance mandatory. And is it legal for the landlord to keep raising my personal liability to 2 million

Realistically people could hardly afford their homes with the old prices and ultra cheap rates, drive around and observe the condition of houses. Terrible things are about to happen

Now that commercial downtowns aren’t the cash cow for city revenues they used to be, how are these new inexpensive low-density subdivisions going to be financially sustainable infrastructure wise? Downtowns used to subsidize the suburbs and Halifax is really bad for paying for old infrastructure with new development fees hoping the music never stops.

Please don't use the camera flash between scenes

We just renovated a 1600 sq foot home and we didn't go extravagant. We paid a plumber, electrician and dry waller. Everything else we did ourselves so we didn't have to pay a living wage for the rest of that labor. We still spent $120,000. That was just renovating. We didn't have to pay for land, well, septic, foundation, and the building itself. What I'm saying is, there is no way to realistically get the cost down to what average joe can afford. Building materials cost too much. You can make it less but it still won't be low enough.

Are the builders marking up the prices of homes too much? How high are the development fees?

It’s the cost of new builds. Most young people can’t afford a 750,000$ new house

I think it's cheaper to buy in Pictou County and then take the bullet mono-rail train to work in Halifax.

Smaller homes with lower tier finishes, would bring more 1st time, 2nd time and single home buyers to the market. I'm transitioning to my 2nd career and want to move from Vancouver to Nova Scotia. I don't need a 3 beds/ 4 baths and certainly don't want to start at $700K. I want to retire within the next 10 years...without a huge mortgage payment. Thanks for sharing this post, Andrew.

We need so many homes in the 500K to 600k to be built.

20 years ago I lived in a 500 sq ft apt. I have very good credit ratting and qualify for a mortgage. I asked a builder to build me a 1000 sq ft house. He said it was against the law. He said the law said he could only build a 2000 sq ft house. This was not in HRM it was out in Enfield. Explain the stupidity of this law??? I now live in an apartment In the building there are people of a broad range of apartment sizes. 1 bedroom to 3 bedroom. Also a broad range in incomes. If you can build a apartment building with 1 bedroom and 3 bedroom on the same floor in the same building then why can not you build 500 sq ft and 2000 sq ft house side by side??? For over 1000 years people in small house have lived beside people in large houses.

I hope someone in government watches your video. Starter homes would be great. High end finishing is not as important as just getting started with accumulating equity and a safety net.

you seems to see this as realtor, more cheaper homes for people so they can afford it and less space for young families... i mean a family of 4 need at leas 3 bed with the current work types that people has since a lot of people now also work form hom, that should be 4 with an offic ethat can also be a room for inlaw visits, in regards bath you mention 4 and that is very high end, 2.5 or 3 at most. look 9 years ago in a home as i am describing was around 250k to 350k, and they were really great homes 2 floors or splits, right now you see similar projects going at double the price from 9 years ago for up to 600k and in your so high 750k range... see my point....the cost is on the sky you pay a to much for the land, to much on construction to much on taxes. even if you have land already contruction is ultra high and builders do not want to get down even having less features. i have being living in the elmsdale area for almos 4 years already and is ee lots of people selling their homes wanting to get a lot more of their home actual value which is fine, they bought their homes at around 190k to 250k and now they are asking 400k+. and i have talked to some of those neighbord that right now are thinking they made a mistake in selling since yeah they have a good entry point to buy one of those 750k homes, with "better features" just to see they have much less land, and homes with the same amount of rooms and baths and just paying premium on a better looking kitchen and modern features some even had already those things in their remodeled homes, i even know people that are not planing to buy new anytime soon and went to live in inlaws or renting smaller apartments because homes are not worth the cost. the reality is builders in NS are crazy selling 750k homes that their true value is 450k or 500k, just look at albertas market to give you an idea and they are also going up therebut not as crazy as NS, Homes here are gettting overpriced by greede builders and greedy realtors people cannot even use the goverment benefits because everything even the cheaper overpriced homes that are not worth buying are above 450k

The fewer people involved in buying and selling homes the cheaper they become. Just as car salesman will become obsolete and the internet will take over, Realtors will become obsolete. They often know nothing of construction principles and just need a paycheck. The required professionals for buying and selling homes are an inspector and a lawyer. The rest is just wasted fluff

The market will correct this Andrew , you don't tell the market what it should do it TELLS you what to do , No builder is going to BUILD homes that don't sell. figure you could just say this in 2mins instead of 7min video?

The problem with new construction homes in Halifax is finding people willing to buy them and actually live in Halifax

I was thinking that making construction loans more accessible will also help to allow first time buyers to purchase their own land and build their own home to their need and budget. Shortage of land for for development is less of a problem than availability of existing homes and it should be easier and quicker to get building permits cleared for a single build than having a 20 to 50 unit development approved that often makes out part of an even bigger development that had to be approved as a whole before that.