How Two of Our Upcoming Projects Benefit From The Rise Of The Single-Person Household

01 (48)

Single women account for one-third of all new sales at popular condo builder Tridel.

When I began working in the industry, most homebuyers were married and with kids. Over the last few years, however, an increasing amount of singles have been snatching up homes across Canada.

Indeed, only one year ago Stats Canada reported more one-person households than couple households with children for the first time ever, according to a recent Ontario Home Builder magazine article.

The reasons for this are threefold: first, as baby boomers age, many find themselves living alone; second, young people are marrying later; and third, many divorcees are in no hurry to tie the knot again.

Obviously, these new homebuyers are attracted to a different type of home. For one thing, space isn’t as important to them. Instead, they focus on amenities and features and finishes. Practicality matters too — as the OHBA article states, single homebuyers can view a condo, townhouse or small detached home as a stepping stone to something larger, with or without a partner.

This phenomenon, of course, presents a marketing opportunity — one that we’re only too eager to benefit from. Take two communities we’re hard at work on, Ten88 and Villagio.

The former is a condo project in Scarborough featuring a payment program designed to enable renters to purchase their first home. The latter is a smaller, somewhat more traditional community in Maple, Vaughan. In both cases, homebuyers can get one-bedroom units. They also get attractive pricing and finishes that are as sleek as the ones they’d find in a condo. And since our client, Empire Communities, also builds high-rise, it will be that much easier to blur the lines between a typical low-rise community and a high-rise condo one.

Now I turn it over to you: how are you making the most of the rise in single-person households?

BAM Wins CHBA Marketing Excellence Award

Last Friday, I was honoured to watch BAM’s efforts receive a highly regarded recognition, when our long-time client Brookfield Homes (Ontario) won the CHBA Marketing Excellence Award for its project Pathways in Caledon East.

As most readers of this blog know, this important award goes to the CHBA builder member whose single project combines the best overall achievements in marketing. The award is based on the cumulative results attained in at least four Marketing Award categories.

DSCF1360

To differentiate Pathways as an exceptional new community that would appeal to families, we divided the community into six unique neighbourhoods and designed a map showing several pathways winding their way through the community. We produced gorgeous renderings of the two parks that the community will feature, as well as a stunning streetscape rendering. We also developed additional benefits for the community to offer, such as Brookfield’s Save Green program.

What’s better than winning the CHBA Marketing Excellence Award? Skiing at Lake Louise with the boys from Curb Signs and winning the CHBA.

What’s better than winning the CHBA Marketing Excellence Award? Skiing at Lake Louise with the boys from Curb Signs and winning the CHBA.

The results? A best-selling, award-winning community that homebuyers quickly identified as ideal for strolling, walking, enjoying nature and interacting with neighbours.

Congratulation to Brookfield Homes and our team at BAM!

P.S.: Pathways campaign elements can be found in our portfolio section, including video, eblast, social media campaign, logo, print ad, and more.

Is the Toronto Real Estate Market Really About to Crash?

real estate bubble / burbuja inmobiliaria

If you watch the news or read the papers, you know the Toronto real market is about to crash.

But is it?

Not according to my friend Andy Brethour. The president of PMA Brethour Realty Group and an expert on all things real estate, Andy wrote an excellent post last week outlining all the reasons why he’s certain there will be no such crash.

In fact, to quote Andy, “the Toronto market, despite the alarm, is back to normal!”

Reasons for this include:

  • Recovering employment rates and modest but positive income growth
  • An immigration flow that will still see demand for over 30,000 households every year (despite more immigrants settling in other regions rather than Ontario)
  • Affordability, which is helped by some of the lowest interest rates in history

While it’s true that the real estate market has changed, for example with the first-time buyer engine running somewhat slower, Andy predicts the Toronto Market will remain very stable and steady — and I concur.

Click here to read his article and let me know what your thoughts are!

Another Client Nominated for CHBA Award

PastedGraphic-1

I’m pleased to report a community of a major client of ours is nominated for CHBA’s 2012 Community Development Award.

Having played an instrumental role in the development and launch of Empire Communities’ Wyndfield over 10 years ago, we’re thrilled to see not just recognition of this caliber — we’re also thrilled to see Wyndfield reach the yardstick with which we ultimately measure success — that of sales. With 1,500 homes sold to date, Wyndfield proves, once again, that consumers aren’t really shopping for a home — instead, they’re shopping for a lifestyle.

With this principle in mind, we packaged Wyndfield as a friendly, modern master-planned community set against the backdrop of a nostalgic era, one where neighbours are friendly and features reflect an old-fashioned aesthetic. Add attractive price tags and a convenient location in Brantford, near the gorgeous Grand River, and it’s no wonder homebuyers flocked to Wyndfield.

Congratulations to our team at BAM and to Empire Communities, and Happy New Year to you!

Longstanding Client Nominated for National SAM Awards

Untitled

The Pathways Brochure won the OHBA award for Best Low-Rise Project Sales Brochure last year.

I was very pleased to learn this week that our client Brookfield Homes received three nominations for the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) National SAM Awards in which we are responsible for the creative, concept and production.

Specifically, the nominations are for:

  • Best Project Signage and Logo
  • Best Brochure/Kit, and
  • Marketing Excellence Award

As readers of this blog know, the CHBA Awards are very prestigious, so we’re particularly proud to see such recognition. As with all our clients, we wore — and continue to wear — the Brookfield and the Pathways tattoo since inception until today, when Pathways community continues to perform very well in one of Ontario’s most sought-after areas.

You can view a sample of the Pathways brochure on our website. This section of our website contains a case study of Pathways, which we helped differentiate as an exceptional new community that would appeal to families.

To do this, we divided the community into six unique neighbourhoods and designed a map showing several pathways winding their way through the community. We produced gorgeous renderings of the two parks that the community will feature, as well as a stunning streetscape rendering. We also developed additional benefits for the community to offer, such as Brookfield’s Save Green program.

The objective? To represent Pathways as a community that’s ideal for strolling, walking, enjoying nature and interacting with your neighbours. By all accounts, it looks like a mission accomplished. Congratulation to Brookfield Homes and our team at BAM.

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries

%d bloggers like this: