10 March 2011

Ryerson University professor, David Amborski, noted in one of the reports that municipal development charges can add about $30,000-$50,000 to the price of a new house.

Oakville was named among the most expensive areas with average charges of $50,458. Then go Markham – $46,457, Milton – $43,399, Newmarket – $41,528, Vaughan – $41,245, Burlington – $40,181, and Brampton – $40,180.

In order to see how high these fees are, the report showed the average development charges in other regions: in the Greater Vancouver Area it’s about $23,418, in Calgary – $7,475, in Edmonton – $1,425. The average U.S. development charge is $8,328. The highest state is California with its $21,648.

Although many of these charges in Ontario are billed to developers, they are still included in the cost of the purchase price.

“Of course, we understand that government needs money for funding the infrastructure investments, but we think it should not be done by decreasing the housing affordability level,” – said Richard Lyall, president of RESCON.

The survey reports also recommend different alternative ways of solving this problem, e.g. raising property taxes or implementing additional land value taxes.

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