| The construction cost of steel and concrete buildings is significantly higher per square foot of floor space than that of low-rise timber-framed buildings. In Canada, the cost of concrete and steel buildings is around 80% more per square foot than the cost of timber-framed walk-up low-rise buildings, and the cost of condos in skyscrapers is a whooping 150% higher than low-rise walk-ups. Here is a source for construction costs for major metropolitan areas in Canada:
https://t.co/18FwgkSlWY And here are some figures. For Toronto: House (medium quality): 120-240$/sf Walk-up low-rise apartment (medium quality): 100-150$/sf Residential condos (medium quality): 180-240$/sf Point towers, 40-80 stories (medium quality): 230-310$/sf For Vancouver House (medium quality): 165-225$/sf Walk-up low-rise apartment (medium quality): 155-180$/sf Residential condos (medium quality): 205-250$/sf Point towers, 40-80 stories (medium quality): 270-355$/sf For Montréal House (medium quality): 125-180$/sf Walk-up low-rise apartment (medium quality): 100-155$/sf Residential condos (medium quality): 150-180$/sf Point towers, 40-80 stories (medium quality): 250-355$/sf So if you can afford a 400 000$ housing unit, and you assume half of it goes to pay for the land, you could get a house with about 1 500 square feet of space, a similar sized condo in a low-rise, a 1 000 square foot condo in a concrete mid-rise or a 650 square foot condo in an high-rise. Yes, high-density housing options lower the amount of land per unit, but at the same time, zoning for higher density tends to rise the cost of land. A lot zoned for an high-rise building will be worth many times what a lot zoned for single-family houses is worth even if the two lots are adjacent, since the land value is proportional to the potential revenue of development, so the bigger the development, the higher the potential revenue, the higher the land value. |
Why would half of your cost be for land in a high-rise condo? If understand your link correctly, these numbers are construction costs only. My argument always was that value of land is what makes SFHs expensive, not their construction cost.
> A lot zoned for an high-rise building will be worth many times what a lot zoned for single-family houses is worth even if the two lots are adjacent
If a developer buys a plot of land and rezones it for high-rise, they maybe gaining some value from the mere fact of rezoning, sure.
But as a consumer, say in Toronto, if I'm looking for housing right now (and I actually took a brief look at Toronto RE market in the past), available SFHs are as a rule significantly more expensive than condos, especially in the same neighborhoods.
In addition, if you're looking for something not older than 20-30 years, many SFHs force additional extra space on you (an extra bedroom or two) even if you don't need it -- it's very difficult to find a newish SFH with only 2 bedrooms for example.
So yes, in many cases, I'm forced into an apples-to-oranges comparison of a 3-4 bedroom SFH and a 2 bedroom condo, but as a consumer these are the only choices at times.