Basement renovations are where the money is: CMHC

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As the Canadian population rapidly ages, professional renovators are going to find a lot of money down in the basement. Of older homes, at the very least.

Such was one of the conclusions that could be drawn after listening to Ted Tsiakopoulos, a regional economist with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), who spoke at the Toronto Housing Outlook Conference last week (Nov. 3, 2015).

Ontario is a $25-billion renovation market, Tsiakopoulos said. A big part of that market is the renovation of basements – oftentimes the addition of a basement apartment. This is partly because the price of housing stock is so high in Ontario that “boomer” parents are likely to  be motivated to renovate to provide basement living accommodations for their children, until they can get established at work or save for a house.

Affordability and the relative shortage of real estate listings are behind the trend, Tsiakopoulos said.

CMHC stats quoted by Tsiakopoulos show that the 55- to 63-year-old age bracket will occupy 1.1 of the 3.7 million households in Ontario. Only 20 per cent of those people are expected to downsize. 40 per cent of them are expected, rather, to do significant renovations, including to basement living spaces.