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Originally Posted by blankall
I don't think anyone is stating that no one wants a detached house. The importance of a detached home is clearly dropping. If 15% more of the population is not having children, that's pretty substantial. Another factor we should look it is how many families are having just one child? Just two? 3 or more? Once again, with 1 child, a townhouse becomes a lot more attractive, then if you have 3 or more children. Medium density housing can also be built around schools/daycare.
Also, I totally agree with people stating that Calgary is more likely to attract people for the purpose of having children because you can buy an affordable detached home. I know multiple people who moved out of Vancouver to Calgary, because homes were affordable.
It's not an all or nothing thing. You can build a bunch of townhouses near the core and still continue to build larger detached places in the suburbs. Calgary is a very quickly growing city, so they most likely need all types of development. My point is that Calgary should not make the same mistakes other cities in Canada have made and neglect to build medium density housing.
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Is it really being neglected though? I am looking at a couple investments and hold land in South Calgary, Bankview and Mardaloop. All of these are seeing rowhouses, townhouses, and fourplexes on signal 50x120 parcels. I am looking at 2 projects right now - one a row housing development and one a four plex. Zoning and DP's are getting easier and easier.
I am talking 4 - 6 units on these that are functioning more like mini condo buildings. Calgary is doing a fine job of allowing for the zoning of these for R-CG and M-CG changes. The demand is there, not everyone wants to be out in the burbs.