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By any measure, Durham Region remains the last bastion of affordable new detached homes in Greater Toronto.

Beginning in 2006, it appeared that the sprawling tract communities of Whitby, Ajax, Pickering, Oshawa and Clarington were rapidly catching up with the more desirable suburban developments of Markham, Richmond Hill and Oakville.

Once thought of as locations of last resort for buyers who wanted to obtain a decent-sized house at a 15-per-cent discount from those in more established communities, Ajax and Whitby in particular picked up in price and demand.

This was mostly because of the lingering effects of provincial land-use rules established in 2005. They spelled out an ambitious policy of regional planning, conservation and residential intensification in the suburbs, as well as identified designated growth areas and restricted boundary expansion by municipalities.

For developers who saw Ajax and Whitby as the next great places to build massive, multiphased, low-rise communities, the future didn't look so bright. All of a sudden, there was a shortage of land for the ever-popular detached home on a basic 40-foot-wide lot.

The communities currently for sale and under construction were largely approved by municipal officials prior to the provincial government's attempt at curbing urban sprawl. Thus the rapid spike in prices in 2006, especially in Ajax and Whitby — two municipalities that are nearly indistinguishable from each other — though those markets cooled somewhat in the first part of 2008.

Ajax has emerged as the pricier of the two, with detached new homes going for an average of $520,434 in the January-to-May period, a 20.1-per-cent increase from $433,398 in the same period of 2007, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Starts of detached homes in Ajax have picked up so far this year: There were 206 in the January-to-May period, an increase from 173 in the same period of last year.

In Whitby, new detached home prices have stabilized; the average was $356,516 in the first five months of 2008, up 4.2 per cent from the same period in 2007, when it was $342,185.

Starts of detached houses also went up, to 200 in the first five months of this year from 166 in the same period of 2007.

Whitby remains a relative bargain compared with Durham Region over all, where the average detached house price for January-to-May was $396,678. That's likely because of the fairly large supply of land still available for building in Whitby, mostly in the semi-rural former township of Brooklin in the northeast corner of the town, north of Highway 7.

Among the communities sprouting up there is Brooklin Winchester by Fernbrook Homes. A total of 30 lots remain for sale, most of them on 40-foot-wide lots. Prices go from $330,000 to $458,000 for between 1,634 and 3,093 square feet, while a range of styles riff on the country-estate theme.

The Village of Brooklin West by Tribute Communities has been designed to evoke a similar feeling — that you're out of the orbit of city hustle. Again, the lots are sizable, up to 56 feet wide, and prices range from $433,000 to $501,000 for between 1,703 and 3,312 square feet. But the available designs feature more prestigious and classical elements; the facades wouldn't be out of place in antebellum-era Georgia.

Space is a little more limited in Ajax. While the lots in Whitby almost always have traditional dimensions, in Ajax, properties are more likely to be wide and shallow, meaning there is a healthy component of semi-detached homes and townhouses.

That's the case with Great Gulf Homes' Wyndam Manor, just south of Taunton Road. Of the 64 lots still for sale there, most are on 47-foot-wide lots, and range in price from $395,000 to $440,000 for between 2,410 and 3,270 square feet. Its traditional Victorian-inspired designs feature steeply pitched roofs.

More modern and spacious designs are the order of the day at Eagle Glen being built by John Boddy Homes on a site south of Taunton Road just east of Westney Road. The larger lots are sold out, but there's a good selection of models on traditional 34-, 39- and 45-foot-wide lots. Prices range from $354,000 to $504,000 for between 1,965 and 3,393 square feet.

In the same general neighbourhood is Somerset, a large detached-home community by Menkes, a developer that has been more focused on high-rise condominium construction in recent years. About 25 lots, all 42 feet wide, are still for sale, and range from $388,000 to $443,000 for between 2,354 to 2,883 square feet.