The rising price of a new home makes it increasingly harder for buyers to afford while also having a ripple effect on Ontario’s economy.

When consumer confidence is shaken, it causes sales to fall due to uncertainty in the real estate market. Money that could help our economy grow and create jobs isn’t moving.

The province is seeking public input about how it can improve land-use planning. A series of town hall meetings will be held and emails invited during an 80-day consultation. As a land-use planner with experience at all levels of government, I believe affordability needs to be at the forefront of this conversation with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Linda Jeffrey.

During the consultation process, I’ll write columns contributing to the discussion. But BILD and OHBA are contributing in other ways, too. At our recent joint “Fighting for Affordability and Fairness” forum, where we focused on the key issues of the consultation to try to move the conversation forward.

With government fees and charges representing at least one-fifth of the cost of a new home, according to a report by Altus Group, it’s time the province took a hard look at why new-home buyers are being asked to contribute so much.

It’s not as though new-home buyers aren’t pulling their weight to help pay for the growing needs of their communities. In 2012, the industry and new-home buyers in the GTA contributed an estimated $1 billion toward the construction of growth-related infrastructure such as sewers, roads and transit through development charges to municipalities.

That same year, residential construction in the GTA employed 202,700 people and generated more than $10.8 billion in wages.

Back to the report. Altus Group is an economic consulting firm that released a report this summer on municipal fees and charges collected by six communities in the GTA: Toronto, Markham, Oakville, Brampton, Bradford-West Gwillimbury and Ajax.

Among the report’s key findings, government charges and fees amounted to an average of $116,200 on a new single-detached home, representing 22 per cent of a new home’s cost. For a new highrise home, government fees averaged $64,000, or 20 per cent of the cost.

But that doesn’t include the interest paid by new-home buyers. According to Altus, a new-home owner with a $500,000 mortgage would pay an average of $291,800 in interest over 25 years. For every additional $10,000 in mortgage principal, interest costs go up $5,830 over the life of the mortgage.

So what does this mean? For every additional $10,000 fee for parkland dedication, for example, on that new-home buyer’s $500,000 mortgage, the buyer will pay out almost another $6,000 of interest.

This kind of charge hurts a buyer’s ability to improve his or her family’s life in a new home, as well as our industry’s ability to contribute to the economy.

Fairness needs to be part of the discussion.

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With 100,000 people and 50,000 jobs coming to the GTA every year, the province and our industry have to accommodate a lot of families.

It’s important for the province to remember that the new-home buyers in those families keep our economy moving.