04-14-2012, 10:13 PM

Have been watching Holmes Inspection and Holmes on Homes (I'm a big Mike Holmes fan) and have a question.

The great majority of homes Mike deals with are multi-family dwellings, what we call down south Condos or Town Houses. Why is that?

Canada is larger in area than the US with about 1/10 the population, but housing seems far more clustered and compact than where I live.

04-14-2012, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by Razormac

Canada is larger in area than the US with about 1/10 the population, but housing seems far more clustered and compact than where I live.

Here's probably the #1 reason (2/3rds of the Canadian population live near the US/Canadian border):

2006 Census: Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006



- Nick

04-14-2012, 11:46 PM

Canada is larger in area than the US with about 1/10 the population, but housing seems far more clustered and compact than where I live.

Have you ever spent a 12 month tour at a Norad Radar site in Northern Quebec? I rest my case.....

04-15-2012, 09:51 AM

Thanks, guys.
I realize the population is heavily concentrated south, but still doesn't account for what I am seeing. Last night I watched one where they were working on ninety year old duplexes.
Hard to believe that population pressure alone would have driven that kind of construction almost a hundred years ago.

04-15-2012, 10:55 AM

well it depends on where you are. Here in Toronto houses are skinny as ****. You would think real estate here was insane a hundred years ago. We have a detached now and it's considered quite wide for toronto but it's still not that wide.

You need to spend well over a million here at least to get anything wider than 15ft downtown.

04-15-2012, 11:35 AM

Although there is a lot of land, people don't want to live in 90% of it (as Nick's picture shows). There's much less habitable land relative to the United States. chscag seems to know what I'm talking about.

Here's some math to give you some context: the three territories have a total land surface area of 3,493,013 square kilometres which is roughly 35% of the total land surface under Canadian jurisdiction. However, only 106,455 people live in them which is roughly 0.32% of the population. To put that into perspective (as if that wasn't enough), there are more people in my electoral riding than in the three territories combined.

The population is also clustered around urban centres primarily. The Windsor-Quebec City corridor (the area in Nick's map that is offset in the top left hand corner and home to Groovetube and I) is home to about 18 million people or roughly 54% of the population. If you add Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary to that (the three largest urban areas outside of the W-QC corridor), you've got 68% of the population. That concentration is unlikely to change since that's where all the job opportunities are.

vansmith: providing lessons on Canadian demographics.

04-15-2012, 11:39 AM

Thanks, Van.
I keep promising myself a trip through Canada. Need to actually get around to doing it.

04-15-2012, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Razormac

I keep promising myself a trip through Canada. Need to actually get around to doing it.

You and me both. I've only left that Windsor-Quebec City corridor a few times so I tend to have a fairly narrow view of what the country is like. I'd love to do the same across the United States which, as I understand it, has the same amazing differences in landscape from region to region.

04-15-2012, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

You and me both. I've only left that Windsor-Quebec City corridor a few times so I tend to have a fairly narrow view of what the country is like. I'd love to do the same across the United States which, as I understand it, has the same amazing differences in landscape from region to region.

If my memory & math are correct...I've lived in, visited friends/family, vacationed, traveled for business, or driven thru 46 of the 48 contiguous United States...some of them many times (and no I have never been a truck driver). YES...most definitely a WIDE diversity of landscapes in the US!

From the Canadian perspective...I've been to Toronto about 5-10x, Montreal 3-4x, and New Brunswick 2x. Would like to see some of Western Canada. Been to Seattle a handful of times...but never got across the border to see Vancouver & other Western Canada destinations.

- Nick

04-15-2012, 12:39 PM

Been all over the US. Lived in Germany twice. But closest to Canada I've been is the American side of Niagara Falls.

04-15-2012, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by pigoo3

If my memory & math are correct...I've lived in, visited friends/family, vacationed, traveled for business, or driven thru 46 of the 48 contiguous United States...some of them many times (and no I have never been a truck driver). YES...most definitely a WIDE diversity of landscapes in the US!

From the Canadian perspective...I've been to Toronto about 5-10x, Montreal 3-4x, and New Brunswick 2x. Would like to see some of Western Canada. Been to Seattle a handful of times...but never got across the border to see Vancouver & other Western Canada destinations.

- Nick

You've been to more places in Canada than I have! Hmm, I have to hurry up with my travel plans. I've been to Edmonton once and New Brunswick many moons ago.

Originally Posted by Razormac

Been all over the US. Lived in Germany twice. But closest to Canada I've been is the American side of Niagara Falls.

You're not missing much on the other side except for a casino. I've been on both sides (I have family in Buffalo) and although the Ontario side seems to play up the tourist card more than the NY side, they're essentially the same.

04-15-2012, 01:55 PM

Originally Posted by Razormac

Been all over the US. Lived in Germany twice. But closest to Canada I've been is the American side of Niagara Falls.

Ahh yes...I totally forgot about Niagara Falls Canada. Been there a bunch of times. Was actually there last Fall.

- Nick

04-15-2012, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by vansmith

You've been to more places in Canada than I have! Hmm, I have to hurry up with my travel plans. I've been to Edmonton once and New Brunswick many moons ago.

I've had a few extra years to do my traveling. Let's "revisit" this thread in about 25 years...and compare notes again!

One of my early US trips was when I was an undergrad. I basically circumnavigated the US (clockwise) starting in the Northeastern US. Took a semi-leasurly 1 month during the Summer.

- Nick

04-15-2012, 05:26 PM

One of the things I will note is lots of new construction housing (single family) here in the US is tightly squeezed together for no reason other than to shove more units into the available space. For example I was in Vegas for most of January and in SW Vegas there is a lot of land and a lot of new construction going on. All of it seems to be tightly packed despite the large amount of land given over to construction. These places have no yards to speak of and the houses might as well be multi-family with the little room between dwellings. While Canada may have been this was for some time, it appears the US is heading there too...

04-15-2012, 05:44 PM

Not for me!

I feel constricted enough on my 1/2 acre lot.
What I REALLY need is 10+ acres.