Unlocking the Door to Homeownership
Discussing Housing Affordability in Canada
For generations, Canadians have viewed homeownership as not only a major life milestone, but an investment in their future. But homeownership is increasingly difficult for the average Canadian to achieve. Governments hold the key to unlocking the door to homeownership again.
Canada’s housing system is facing a critical inflection point as the effects of declining homeownership prospects ripple through the entire market and further threaten the country’s long-term housing supply. Coupled with this, in key regions like Ontario and B.C., layoffs from the significant slowdown are creating a permanent loss of home building capacity where we…
Development charges (DCs) are municipal taxes that are embedded in the price of every new home. These taxes directly impact the cost to build new homes, quietly pushing homeownership in many cities further out of reach and stifling new housing supply.
Read More "Development Charges: The Taxes Driving Up New Home Prices"
By overtightening in the name of safeguarding financial stability, restrictive mortgage rules are increasingly locking well-qualified buyers out of homeownership at a time when entering the housing market is already extraordinarily difficult. The stress test needs to be fixed to reflect today’s realities.
Read about actions the federal government can take to improve housing affordability in Canada.
Read More "How the government can help unlock the door to homeownership"
“As a 27 year old male affordable housing is a huge concern! [….] The only way I can afford a house in the future is to live at home and save for a bigger down payment…. Some people don’t have that opportunity and with rent being so high, they will never have the chance of owning a home.”
“With the real estate market the way it is right now… to sell a home at a profit and to down size, you end up paying more for a smaller home/condo/modular [so…you] might as well stay where [you] are!!”
“I cannot save for a down payment due to soaring Ontario rent prices. More than half my pay goes to rent and I am not even in the GTA.”