Why Developers Only Seem to Build McMansions

Ever wonder why it's nearly impossible to find a brand-new, modest starter home? In this episode of Classonomics, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt break down the real-world housing economics driving the extinction of small detached homes across Canada and why developers are practically forced to build McMansions instead.From flat municipal fees to setback regulations and astronomical land costs, we run through the numbers we explain why smaller homes no longer make financial sense for builders, and what policy changes could actually fix it.The disappearance of homes under 1,500 square feetServiced land pricing and lot width economicsHow flat municipal development fees penalize small buildsSetback rules and wasted building spaceConstruction economies of scaleFixed overhead and pre-construction costsPolicy solutions to bring back missing middle housingChapters:00:00 Small Detached Homes Are Disappearing02:02 Why Developers Don’t Build Smaller Homes03:01 The Real Cost of Building a Small Home05:27 Why Land Costs Favour Bigger Houses07:43 How Lot Rules Make Small Homes Harder to Build09:33 How to Bring Down the Cost of Land10:12 Development Charges Favour Bigger Homes13:39 Why Bigger Homes Have Lower Construction Costs16:15 The Costs That Don’t Shrink With the House17:47 Why a $600K Home Costs So MuchResearch:https://pub-ottawa.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=311483 Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina MaddeauxProduced by Meredith MartinFunded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/