An overwhelming number — 87 per cent — of Toronto-area residents believe that boosting the housing supply would help address the region’s affordability crunch. But many people don’t want that new housing built too close to their own home.

An Ipsos poll shows that 59 per cent of residents oppose building highrise condos within half a kilometre of where they live. But there is also significant resistance to other types of less dense development, according to the research for the Building and Land Development Association (BILD) and the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB).

Respondents were also opposed to the kind of “missing middle” housing — that planners believe is key to creating relatively affordable homes for the Toronto area’s growing population. Forty-four per cent of respondents didn’t want to see a middle-density stacked townhome complex within a half kilometre of their home and 37 per cent were resistant to a traditional townhouse development.

Even single-family detached homes were opposed by 30 per cent of poll respondents if they were being built in their neighbourhood.

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“People recognize we need to build more housing in order to provide the type of housing people need at the price they can afford in the GTA and that they recognize part of that solution is the missing middle,” said Justin Sherwood, a spokesperson for BILD.

But the “quite high degree of opposition” to the kind of construction the city needs is disheartening, he said.

The poll is the second of three parts being released jointly by the homebuilding and real estate industry prior to next month’s municipal elections. The first release last week, showed 57 per cent of residents believe it is increasingly difficult to own a home in the region. The high cost of housing is affecting how much people can save for retirement, even how many children they have, according to the findings.

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The average price of a resale home in the Toronto area in August, including all highrise and lowrise housing types, was $765,270, according to the real estate board. New construction single-family homes — townhouses, semi-detached and detached houses — sold for $1.14 million in July on average and condos were $774,759, according to BILD.

The home builders’ association, which is encouraging residents to write to politicians to push for greater housing supply, says the region needs about 50,000 new homes a year to keep up with growth. But only 38,000 were built last year.

The online poll of 1,503 Toronto area residents was conducted Aug. 20 to 23 and is considered accurate within 2.9 per cent 19 times out of 20.