AUGUST 2026 “COVID kind of did a 180 on us. We really didn’t slow down – we actually sped things up.” The scale of that growth is reflected in the number of new houses being built. When Justin first joined the town, a strong year meant roughly 20 to 30 new home starts. Last year, the town closed with more than 70. As of mid-year this year, 43 new residential builds are already underway, putting Gander on pace to exceed even that record. Last year also saw the completion of the town’s first multi-unit apartment building in over 40 years – a 20-plus unit complex that signalled a meaningful shift in the type and density of housing Gander is now attracting. Justin sees more multi-residential development on the horizon. He explains that a decade ago, the town’s permits were dominated almost entirely by single-family dwellings. Today, builders are constructing a full range of housing types – homes with finished crawl spaces, properties with basement apartments, top-and-bottom duplexes, side-by-side duplexes, and small quadplexes. “We’re running the whole gamut,” Justin says. “There’s a demand for everything.” Much of the credit for this surge goes to an increase in available land. In the years before development fully accelerated, building lots were being absorbed quickly by contractors, and supply was tight. Around four years ago, developers began opening up additional parcels, and Gander now has three active subdivisions offering a mix of medium- and high-density residential options.
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