Outlook 2020 – Brad Carr, CEO, Mattamy Homes Canada
By NextHome Staff
January 06, 2020
January 06, 2020
Part of our series of Outlook 2020 Q&As with building industry executivesHow do you see the outlook for the new home industry in 2020? We see continuing strength in the marketplace, with demand re-establishing itself from the downturn that occurred following the peak in spring 2017. Pricing has firmed up in recent months, and we are seeing good traffic at our communities. Overall, the GTA market is characterized by strong fundamentals – solid immigration trends and wage growth as well as low unemployment and a favourable interest rate environment. The outlook is all positive.And for Mattamy Homes? We're continuing to leverage the diverse offering of a number of exceptional communities we have across the GTA, from Halton to Durham, as well as the strength of the well-established Mattamy brand in "stronghold" sub-markets such as Milton, Oakville and Brampton. We're certainly heading into 2020 with an optimistic outlook for both our business and the industry as a whole.What is your company doing to address the issues facing the homebuilding industry – namely, affordability and new home supply? At Mattamy, we are always looking for new and creative ways to deliver attractive built forms at a lower cost. We continue to offer a broad range of housing types that appeal to customers whatever their stage in life or circumstances. This includes the introduction of midrise buildings and stacked townhomes – examples of a continuous cycle of product evolution and innovation to create new forms of housing at lower price points that both meets customer demand for affordability while still offering lifestyle opportunities.What more could the industry do to address these issues? With no significant policy changes on the horizon that would increase overall levels of supply, we continue to encourage all levels of government to find ways to create thoughtful solutions that increase supply as a way of tackling affordability while at the same time respecting the concerns of existing residents. We would welcome the opportunity to work more collaboratively with government, the broader building industry and other businesses in the housing ecosystem to find a way to bring more homes to market that are affordable and meet the needs of society.What should prospective new-home buyers know about your company for 2020?Mattamy is going to deliver our 100,000th home in 2020, which is a story of growth that's pretty unprecedented. Growing from a single house closing in 1978 to becoming North America's largest privately-owned homebuilder, delivering more than 8,000 homes this year is a journey we are extremely proud of. Even with that scale, for us it's still all about one customer, one home at a time.Why should prospective new-home buyers consider buying from your company in 2020?We have a number of exciting new master-planned communities launching in multiple markets across the GTA (such as Caledon, Toronto and Seaton). We're also thinking a lot these days about ever-evolving customer expectations around technology. We are aware and paying close attention to all of the experiences our customers bring from other brand relationships and how these influence their expectations for ease and simplicity in the homebuying process. Things are changing very quickly, and we're working very hard to stay on the leading edge of both technology and customer expectations.