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Home ideas abound at Pearkes

Victoria Home Renovation and Decor Show runs Friday to Sunday at Pearkes Community Centre
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Pearkes Recreation Centre will host the Victoria Early Spring 2017 Home Renovation and Decor Show Friday through Sunday.

With spring just around the corner, the Victoria Early Spring 2017 Home Renovation and Decor Show will not just inspire future projects, but also infuse the local economy with a boost.

“The show is a fantastic way of driving the economy,” said Darcy Hope, manager of the show, which opens Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday afternoon at Pearkes Community Centre, 3100 Tillicum Rd. “We estimate that business generated from the show will surpass $50 million by the end of the year.”

This figure points to the economic impact of the home renovation industry. In fact, according to published reports, the home renovation industry is growing faster than the home building industry in Canada.

According to a new Scotiabank Industry Trends report on housing, the total value of housing in Canada in 2013 topped $128 billion, with 45 per cent of that coming from new home construction, followed by renovation spending at 37 per cent.

The remainder (18 per cent) consisted of transfer costs, such as fees and taxes.

This said, it was the renovation segment that showed the fastest growth from 2000 to 2012.  Money spent on renovations during that time increased by six per cent annually, twice the rate of new home construction spending for the same period, and three times the rate of growth in transfer costs.

This year’s show features 115 individual exhibitors spread across 155 booths, and Hope expects about 15,000 visitors to check out the catalogue of items. They range from traditional home items (kitchens, bathrooms, roofing and so on),  boutique items (electric bicycles and organic beds and bedding among others) and many items only available at trade shows.

According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC), new housing starts remained steady, but returned to their historical average in January after an exceptionally strong year in 2016.

Actual (rather than seasonally adjusted housing starts) in fact show that construction has slowed down significantly in some parts of Greater Victoria, including Saanich.

Whereas Saanich recorded 10 new single housing starts in January 2016, that figure halved in January 2017. Construction of new multiple-unit projects is down significantly year-to-year, from 49 in January 2016 to three in January 2017.

Overall, the Scotiabank Industry Trends report sees the housing market softening, a development that will also impact construction, manufacturing, finance and real estate.

For now though, these developments are not visible yet.

Hope said the local home renovation/building market has “remained extremely strong” as residents from Vancouver and Alberta continue to move to the area. “Although real estate prices are on the rise here too, many of these people have sold their homes for a lot of money and can now afford to move here, buy or build a home and still have money left over for renovations and other projects,” he said.

This weekend’s show takes place against the backdrop of several trends in the home renovation industry.

During a survey of a major home renovation show in Florida last month, Consumer Reports identified seven major developments which the magazine predicts will shape the home renovation industry. They include, among others, devices for indoor gardening, smart-metered devices designed to save energy and appliances connected to the Internet, self-cleaning toilets and induction cooking, which uses electro-magnetic rather than thermal energy. These trends are consistent with the emergence of what experts call the Internet of Things, the concept of connecting physical devices to the Internet and with each other.

This move towards high-tech (and so far high-end) devices dovetails with a growing emphasis on accessibility in the face of new statistics that show more than eight out of 10 older Canadians  – a growing cohort – want to spend their golden years in their current home.

 

This trend towards ‘aging in place’ as experts call it has accordingly triggered a wide range of innovations such as moveable kitchen islands.

 

 



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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