No one builds starter homes because municipalities don't zone for them.
If you want a 3 bdrm condo most cities don't adequately zone for them, and so the limited stock is obscenely over-priced. The same follows for townhouses and row homes.
My own municipality is, allegedly, progressive and far-left; but even it has locked in a huge chunk of the town as single unit homes in a "heritage conservation area", and insists on building bachelor and 2 bdrm suites when it densifies.
So what's the point? You can rent your parents' basement suite for cheaper than the mortgage on what would be a lateral shift in housing status.
Not sure why you're being downvoted, because it's absolutely true.
Residents of this neighbourhood regularly campaign against affordable housing, halfway houses, addiction recovery centres, et al; with Poe's Law levels of quotations in the local rag, with such gems like "I support affordable housing, but those people don't belong in this neighbourhood."
Moreover, the area is _mostly_ post-war colonial-style architecture. Post-WW1/WW2, to be clear. It's not exactly dripping with important cultural landmarks and structures.
Now, the local native band? They're still fighting to recover the remains of their grandparents and great grandparents which were buried under the local high school, along with half of a Chinese cemetery. I kid you not, it's like something out of a cheesy 80's B-movie.
"Heritage" _usually_ means one thing: keeping out the undesired people. "Heritage" is a weasel word for classism and racism.
This is in fact one reason why areas get gentrified. You cannot build anything new in many pricier parts of town although the better, often more central location would make it economically very interesting. It's so often zoned as done historic area and thus new development moves to the cheaper areas. I'm not saying it's the only reason, but it certainly makes the problem much worse.
If you want a 3 bdrm condo most cities don't adequately zone for them, and so the limited stock is obscenely over-priced. The same follows for townhouses and row homes.
My own municipality is, allegedly, progressive and far-left; but even it has locked in a huge chunk of the town as single unit homes in a "heritage conservation area", and insists on building bachelor and 2 bdrm suites when it densifies.
So what's the point? You can rent your parents' basement suite for cheaper than the mortgage on what would be a lateral shift in housing status.