Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellySite Magazine: Why have Toronto condos become so %@$#$! expensive?
Support Brandon Donnelly
Brandon DonnellySite Magazine: Why have Toronto condos become so %@$#$! expensive?
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Every year my friends at Urban Capital publish an annual magazine called Site. And every year it contains some great articles about the real estate development industry across Canada. (Some of you may also remember that I've written a few articles for it in previous years.)
Well this year's issue is out and there are a few featured articles that I'd like to draw your attention to:
What happens when 175 (mostly) women get together to design a condominium? Link
How (not) to build a public park Link
Why have Toronto condos become so %@$#$! expensive? Link
This last one is a topic that we have talked about many times before on the blog. But here, UC has provided a quantitative comparison between a project they did in 2005 and a project that they're doing today in 2020. Here's what they found:
Average condo prices in the City of Toronto are up about 150%. But...
Land costs are up 160%.
Soft costs are up 118%.
Construction and related costs are up 91%.
Financing costs are up 93%.
Government fees, charges, and taxes are up 413%.
And development charges (a subset of the above) are up 3,244%!
At the same time, the profit margin over costs is down about 45%.
(As a point of comparison, CPI only increased by about 26.5% during this same time period.)
The point here is that condos are so %@$#$! expensive largely because of cost-plus pricing. Government fee increases are also outpacing every other cost bucket.
If you're developing new housing in Toronto, you have no choice but to accept these rising costs. You have to pay development charges and you have to pay them when you're told, even if that means swallowing some new massive increase.
So by necessity, end prices get continually pushed as a way to try and absorb these costs. You figure out what your costs are going to be and then you price accordingly. But of course, you also have to ask yourself: Can people actually afford this kind of pricing and can this neighborhood support it?
Sometimes the answer is yes, which is why development continues. But sometimes the answer is no. In this case, the next step is simple: you don't build.
Every year my friends at Urban Capital publish an annual magazine called Site. And every year it contains some great articles about the real estate development industry across Canada. (Some of you may also remember that I've written a few articles for it in previous years.)
Well this year's issue is out and there are a few featured articles that I'd like to draw your attention to:
What happens when 175 (mostly) women get together to design a condominium? Link
How (not) to build a public park Link
Why have Toronto condos become so %@$#$! expensive? Link
This last one is a topic that we have talked about many times before on the blog. But here, UC has provided a quantitative comparison between a project they did in 2005 and a project that they're doing today in 2020. Here's what they found:
Average condo prices in the City of Toronto are up about 150%. But...
Land costs are up 160%.
Soft costs are up 118%.
Construction and related costs are up 91%.
Financing costs are up 93%.
Government fees, charges, and taxes are up 413%.
And development charges (a subset of the above) are up 3,244%!
At the same time, the profit margin over costs is down about 45%.
(As a point of comparison, CPI only increased by about 26.5% during this same time period.)
The point here is that condos are so %@$#$! expensive largely because of cost-plus pricing. Government fee increases are also outpacing every other cost bucket.
If you're developing new housing in Toronto, you have no choice but to accept these rising costs. You have to pay development charges and you have to pay them when you're told, even if that means swallowing some new massive increase.
So by necessity, end prices get continually pushed as a way to try and absorb these costs. You figure out what your costs are going to be and then you price accordingly. But of course, you also have to ask yourself: Can people actually afford this kind of pricing and can this neighborhood support it?
Sometimes the answer is yes, which is why development continues. But sometimes the answer is no. In this case, the next step is simple: you don't build.
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