Tri-Cities Housing Mix Trend Continues
Five years ago we learned that the inventory of Port Moody multi-family homes surpassed single detached homes.
Using December 31, 2007, as a random benchmark, 47.2% of Port Moody’s 10,867 residential homes were multi-family.
As at December 31, 2013, the total number of homes in Port Moody climbed to 12,477, and 55.6% were multi-family.
In this same period the supply of single detached homes in Port Moody diminished from 5,737 in 2007, to 5,537 in 2013.
Port Coquitlam also had a loss of single detached homes from 11,320 (62.3% of mix) as at December 31, 2007, to 11,217 (56.3%) at the end of 2013.
With the development of Burke Mountain underway, the supply of single detached homes in Coquitlam gained 1,146 units since 2007 and totals 26,071 (58.4%) as at December 31, 2013.
Coquitlam’s mix of multi-family in this same period grew from 13,202 units (34.6% of mix) to 18,598 (41.6%).
In Port Coquitlam the multi-family statistics were 37.7% (6,853 units) in 2007 and in 2013 were 43.7% (8,712 units) of the mix.
The supply and demand conditions of each local market are different, but most of what I have seen and heard points generally to two demographics contributing to the increased multi-family housing trend; the Boomers who have been downsizing as their priorities have changed, and the Millennial generation who enjoy the world at their fingertips.
Both groups prefer the convenience of professionals looking after everything on the outside of their strata lot, and with the freedom and lifestyle this offers in a pedestrian friendly urban setting.
While more young families today do well raising a family in an apartment rather than a single detached home, others are choosing a roomier townhouse.
In response to affordability and demand we have witnessed a sprawl to the east as Lower Mainland real estate evolved over recent decades. Single detached homes are generally more affordable and abundant than the Tri-Cities in places like Maple Ridge and Mission, where my children and their families live, and also Langley and Abbotsford on the south side of the Fraser.
This trend will continue for as long as the demand gap between multi-family and single detached homes continues. In fact, more people will never live in a single detached home.