Mar 2008 3

Premier calls for smaller lot sizes

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B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said smaller lot sizes could reduce the price of a home by more than $200,000, and make them more affordable for first-time buyers, The Province reported.

"We've been aggressively encouraging municipalities to look at ways that they can reduce the cost of housing," Campbell said Friday, in Vancouver. "The average home in the 1950s was about 900 square feet. Today, it's 2,350 square feet," he said. "So some fairly small decisions with regard to how subdivisions work, and how you create compact communities, can have a huge impact on the value of a home."

In Vancouver, Campbell said, reducing the frontage for single-family homes to 10 metres could knock $200,000 to $300,000 off the asking price of a home.

Campbell, a former property developer, also said new compact housing types, green communities and reduced urban sprawl will contribute to a long-term reduction in the cost of housing in the province, The Province article concludes.

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