This section provides a high-level overview of
government charges levied by municipal governments and attempts to
quantify the costs these charges and fees generate for developers, home
builders, and ultimately, home buyers. Although growth must pay for
growth, ever increasing charges are adding to the price of the house for
homebuyers and is often supporting investments beyond what would be
needed to address the impact of any new development. Two scenarios
were studied, looking at a typical low-rise development and at a typical
high-rise development. In some areas studied, government charges make
up 12 per cent of the price of a home.
Low-Rise Scenario
The modelling of charges imposed on low-rise development was done on 21
of the 23 municipalities – neither the City of Toronto or the City of
Vancouver was included in the modelling, as large-scale low-rise
development is not a significant part of the development environment in
those municipalities any longer.
Government fees and charges average $48,200 per low rise unit in Canada, with the highest charges in Markham ($138,154 per unit, 12% of the price of a home), Ontario and the lowest in Charlottetown, PEI ($2181, per unit).


Both tables: Altus Group Economic Consulting
High-rise scenario
The charges for a high-rise development are highest in the City of Vancouver at $100,700 per unit, followed by the four high rise markets studied within the GTA (Markham, Brampton, Toronto, and Oakville).
On average, the high-rise charges imposed by municipalities are $32,800 per unit, or 6.2% of the price of the residential units.


Both tables: Altus Group Economic Consulting