In 1923, Harry Sifton built his first house at 587 Rosedale Avenue in London, where it still stands today. His introduction of building several homes at one time on speculation proved so popular that from 1940 to 1948 construction grew steadily to 20 homes a year. Five hundred houses later, he passed the torch to his son, Mowbray. Under this new leadership the company began assembling large tracts of land, positioning Sifton Properties for a full scale foray into land development and diversified construction.