If Victoria homebuilders are panicking about rising interest rates, the high cost of supplies, high cost of land, scarcity of skilled trades and labour they’re not showing it around here.
“These guys are resilient, they’ve seen all this before, they’ve experienced the ups and down of the economy,” said Casey Edge, executive director of the Victoria Residential Homebuilders Association. “They’ve gone through the global housing market crash in 2009 and these kinds of significant declines.”
Dusty Delain is reluctant to suggest there’s a vein of optimism running through local builders. “It’s not optimism, it’s just that it seems like work will be around for a while, that’s all,” said the founder of Amity Construction, which specializes in building single-family homes. It means young tradespeople can’t afford to move here and work on the new builds, which delays things even further and adds cost.
Edge noted many local builders have said employees have been moving to Alberta and staying as they can buy a single-detached home for the price of a condo in Victoria, and they face lower taxes. “That’s a result of homebuyers having to pass the stress test, and that is now around seven per cent,” said Edge.