2017 Residential Construction Forecast For Blue Mountain, Creemore, Collingwood, Mulmur, Wasaga Beach

2017 looks to be a banner year for residential construction.

No matter what area you are talking about in the Georgian Triangle the 2017 residential construction forecast looks to be a banner year.

You could be in Creemore, Town of Blue Mountains, Collingwood, Wasaga Beach or the township of Mulmur area and it doesn't look like its gonna matter when you look at the amount of permits that are being issued, applied for or inquired about is skyrocketing. Most of the permits that have to do with the building of new homes or additions are looking to start in the spring/summer time of the 2017 calendar year.

There are a lot of permits and non permit renovations that have started coming up this winter and look to continue throughout the entire year of 2017.

Most of the new home building looks to happen in the Town Of The Blue Mountains, Wasaga Beach and the town of Collingwood as these places have the most vacant lots or build-able land available to build new custom homes.

Here's what each area looks like;

• The Town of Collingwood has the unique scenario that it has a down town core that has almost no available vacant lots, what they do have are small wartime homes that are not worth much more then the land that they sit on. Because of this there are a lot of people buying these homes and demolishing them to build larger newer custom homes. There is also a lot of older homes in Collingwood that are worth to much money or designated as historical buildings, that means that they cannot be torn down which means that they will require extensive renovations and sometimes almost complete rebuilds. To add space people are enlarging the homes with additions when they aren't able to remove the home to build a larger one.
• The Town of The Blue Mountains looks to have probably the busiest year that it has ever had when it comes to the building of new custom homes and also renovations. With the hot real estate market people are buying places and then extensively renovating them. The township looks to be on pace to give out more building permits then ever. Quality contractors are going to be hard to find after the spring rush starts with many people either waiting till the following year to start their projects or trying it on their own. The bigger problem will be the availability of sub trades and the lack of them as most of the good quality sub trades will already be committed to the good contractors.
• Creemore and the township of Clearview. Creemore is probably one of the slower places in the area as there is a complete lack of building lots in the township for people to build homes on. There is a will to build custom homes in the area but the lack of building lots, this forces people to either buy in a different area or buy an existing home and renovate it. Most of the custom homes that are being built in the area are large multi million dollar homes on large pieces of land in the hills surrounding Creemore. A hot real estate market looks to create more renovations as people move into homes that they settle for and then change to meet their lives.
• Township of Mulmur. Mulmur is a mostly a rural setting, there is no major centre but the area looks like it will be busy with a lot of custom homes slated to be constructed on big and small pieces of property. The area has become a lot more popular in the last decade with its proximity to Toronto and the peacefulness compared to the hustle and bustle of Orangeville and Collingwood. With the hot real estate market a lot of properties have changed hands leading to many renovations needed. Finding good contractors will be challenging later in the year.
• Wasaga Beach. Wasaga Beach looks to be busy like it has been in the past number of years. Wasaga Beach is one of the few places around that has many track home subdivisions still being constructed. This is one of the few places that an average person can still buy a nice home without having to break the bank. A lot of older homes are being sold and torn down to make way for newer larger custom homes, there are also a lot of renovations because of the number of homes in Wasaga Beach. The one thing about Wasaga Beach is that there are a lot of Contractors that live and work there ensuring that you will be able to find one when you are ready to do the work.

One of the main drivers in the Georgian Triangle area for construction is the ultra hot real estate market, as there is a limited amount of homes for sale they tend to sell quickly leaving little choice in the way of homes to choose from. People thinking about buying a higher priced home are choosing to instead build themselves a new custom home. The only thing restricting the building of more custom homes in a lot of area's is the lack of residential building lots. The average middle class person cannot afford to pay the high price for land and permits and then construct even a modest new home, they have to settle to buy a used home and renovate it to their needs. In the future a township that can create some usable land that people can build custom homes will do very well with a good tax base and permit generation.

The shortness of quality contractors has given rise to a lot of less qualified contractors in the area, don't be rushed into hiring someone that you can't trust just because you want the job completed right away instead of later.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.