Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 781

At the beginning of this year, Singapore expanded its preschool subsidies and improved its support for assisted reproduction and fertility treatments. The goal: more Singaporean children. According to the World Bank (via the Wall Street Journal ), Singapore has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world at about 1.14 children per woman as of 2018. This is down from about 3 in 1970, when the government was actually worried about the opposite problem -- too many children.

Of course, this trend is not unique to Singapore. This is generally the way the winds are blowing in the developed world. Young people are spending more time on education, career, and travel. And they're delaying marriage (or not getting married). On top of this, family-sized housing has become fairly expensive in most big cities. The fastest solution is to ramp up immigration, but many countries, including Singapore, have concerns about what this does to the "national identity."

So there seems to be a preference for throwing money at the problem and promotional material with slogans like this one: "Have three, or more if you can afford it."

Chart: WSJ

LA-based startup, Canoo , is trying to rethink urban transport and, more specifically, how people use and consume electric vehicles. They aren't planning on launching in Los Angeles until next year, but here's what is apparent so far.

(1) The vehicles (pictured above) are far more utilitarian in their design -- though still attractive. The focus does not seem to be on creating objects of desire, which is how cars have historically been sold.

(2) The interiors are more living room-like in their seating configurations. This makes them feel less like a car and more like public transit (or a prom party limo).

(3) The plan is for these vehicles to be available through a commitment-free monthly membership, as opposed to through a traditional lease or purchase option.

These features are the sorts of things that many have been predicting would happen. But they remain signals for the future of the "car." They are also perfectly well suited to autonomy.

If you'd like to join their waitlist, you can do that here . I just did and apparently I'm #5967 in line. I have no idea when they hope to launch in Toronto, but who doesn't love a good waitlist? The illusion of scarcity can be a powerful motivator.

Update: My position in line has improved to #229 because of all of the "referrals" generated by this post. Canoo has done a good job using their waitlist system to generate exposure and solicit early customer feedback.

Update: #46.

Image: Canoo

Bullpen Consulting and Batory Management published their Q4-2019 land insights report for the Greater Toronto Area today. According to the report, there were 36 high-density apartment land transactions in Q4-2019. The average sale price was about $111 per buildable square foot and Bullpen estimates that these future projects -- assuming they go condo -- will sell for just under $1,000 psf on average.

But that's blended across the entire GTA.

Looking at the core of Toronto (former City of Toronto boundaries), the average price per buildable square foot was about $187, which represents a year-over-year increase of 28%. There's also a premium for mid-rise sites. Bullpen pegs the average price of a mid-rise site in the City -- unzoned but with an active development application -- at about $231 pbsf. These numbers will obviously translate into much higher condo/apartment prices.

If you'd like to download a copy of the report, click here .