Other posts have observed that post-2008, the American Exurbs have not only lost their glitz but perhaps their viability.
Now, from Brookings, census data is confirming some of these observations:
… the least dense, outer suburban counties—exurbs and emerging suburbs—registered extremely low growth rates in 2010-2011, continuing a downward trajectory established in the late 2000s.
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Reasons?
It reflects the difficult economic straits now facing would-be home-buyers, many in their twenties and early thirties, who tend to be stuck in place in inner suburbs and cities. It also reflects uncertainty about the future of the housing market and broader economy in far-flung metropolitan locations amid rising fuel prices. …
The fact that outer suburban growth has continued to falter two years after the recession ended calls into question whether today’s younger generations will hold the same residential preferences as their forebears. It is possible that the new financial risks they face, along with increased environmental and economic concerns, will change perceptions of where to find their version of the American Dream.
So is the same thing happening in Canada, particularly in Metro Vancouver?
From CMHC, as reported in Yahoo Finance:
“There were 3,931 multiple-family starts so far in 2012 in the Vancouver CMA compared to 3,183 in the same period last year,” noted Robyn Adamache, CMHC’s Senior Market Analyst. “The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby recorded significantly more multiple-family starts in the first three months of 2012 than in the same period last year. Other cities, such as Richmond, Surrey and Coquitlam, had fewer multiple-family starts.”
The Abbotsford CMA reported 23 housing starts in March, down from the 107 starts recorded in the same month last year. In the first quarter of 2012, there have been 103 housing starts compared with 167 in the same period last year.
But Andy Coupland is not so sure it reflects an exurban decline, particularly since Chilliwack starts are up.
And in the States, Michael Lewyn thinks: Not Yet.
Problems ahead for Land Use Planning?
http://www.straight.com/article-655026/vancouver/why-bc-voters-should-worry-about-danielle-smith-and-wildrose-party-alberta
The party would also eliminate laws requiring the province to implement regional land-use plans and allow for the construction of new transmission lines over private property.
Wildrose has proposed an “Alberta Property Rights Preservation Act”, entrenching property rights in the Alberta Bill of Rights. The party also pledges to “spearhead a national initiative to add property rights to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.
There are several potential problems associated with including property rights under Canada’s constitution. First of all, it could hamper municipalities’ capacity for introducing zoning rules.
Secondly, B.C.’s Agricultural Land Reserve could face a legal challenge from landowners who say their constitutional rights have been infringed upon by a law requiring them to maintain property as farmland. Of course, the head honchos at the Fraser Institute and the Business Council of B.C. have no love of protecting agricultural land if there are more lucrative uses.
That’s not all. Aboriginal land claims might become even more difficult to settle if individuals launch court cases arguing that treaties infringe on their constitutional right to private property. In addition, environmental regulations could be struck down as unconstitutional if they infringe on private-property rights. And it’s conceivable that divorced spouses would face new barriers to obtaining assets accrued over the course of a marriage.
But the biggest threat of all is if corporations were able to persuade the Supreme Court of Canada that this constitutional guarantee should also be extended to them. Corporations have already obtained a constitutional right to freedom of expression.
You can be certain that Corporate Canada would focus a massive amount of resources on trying to ensure that constitutional property rights also apply to their holdings. If they succeed, that could have a seriously detrimental impact on governments’ ability to create Crown corporations in the future.