Innovative townhome forms offer affordable home options

One way the land development and home building industry is providing consumers with affordable new home options while complying with the province’s intensification requirements is by building innovative forms of townhomes.

In recent years, the industry has introduced many varieties of stacked and back-to-back townhomes across the GTA. With these forms of housing, the industry is building gentle density and it is trying to meet the insatiable demand for ground-related housing at an affordable price.

Stacked towns are becoming very popular across the GTA. When one unit is stacked on top of another, residents have the advantage of a two-storey house-style layout with the added convenience of a condo. The lower unit typically has a patio or terrace, while the upper unit usually boasts a balcony or rooftop terrace.

Back-to-back towns are different than regular row housing, as the backs of each home touches the back of the house behind it.

Both types of townhomes help increase choice for consumers whether they are families looking for space to grow, empty nesters who want a more relaxed lifestyle or first-time buyers looking for an alternative to a condo unit.

Innovative townhome developments are taking shape across the GTA in communities where a decade ago most all of the new development was detached homes. In places such as Stouffville, townhouses now account for a significant proportion of the housing that is under development. For instance, BILD member Geranium Corp. offers a number of different townhome options in its Cardinal Point master-planned community. Prices for these units started in the mid $400,000s.

While back-to-back row housing is common in England, the concept is relatively new to the GTA. With some innovative rethinking of the Victoria-era housing form, several BILD members have brought back-to-back and stacked townhomes to the market with great success.

Menkes’ Dwell City Towns in Etobicoke, for example, offered back-to-back units of 1,000 to more than 1,600 sq. ft. with starting prices from $300,000. The 196 open-concept units – boasting patios and rooftop decks – sold out quickly. At Queen’s Landing in East Gwillimbury, Minto is about to launch the second phase of back-to-back townhomes after phase one sold out in three hours.

These are just a few examples of the numerous gentle density developments that our industry is building as we try and meet the housing needs of the GTA’s ever-growing population in our highly regulated new home market.