Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
Supply issues are just one component of a complex problem. Those people shooting/smoking dangerous drugs like meth and crack in their tent communities are unlikely to be buying a new home regardless of how "affordable" it may be. They need to be institutionalized and treated.
Then there are others who indeed got caught up in the increase in housing costs and lost their apartments. But what drove that increase? Huge federal injections of cash into the money supply that overstimulated the economy. Relaxed controls on immigration that increased demand for housing, and which depending on the circumstances, the costs of which are footed for several years by the Feds. Lots of conversions to AirBnBs which are largely uncontrolled by any govt. Increases in rents for newer properties convinced longtime landlords to invest in their older properties to make them more competitive with resultant rent increases. Offshore money being pumped into Canadian real estate which again is largely uncontrolled by the Feds. That list is just scratching the surface.
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If we slow immigration, we loose ground in the battle to become a market economy instead of one focused on tertiary industries. This is the key to Canada's long term economic growth otherwise in the near future we will be bumped down the list until we've become irrelevant to have at global discussions. Since we know the amount we're receiving, we should ensure at least that much housing supply hits the market annually to offset the impact of their arrival.
Low interest rates and quantitative easing were around before this Federal government came in to power. Foreign ownership is shown to be contributing factor, the effect of the tax on them has shown its not a key driver of home prices as Vancouver's market is red-hot with a tax in place.
I think the politically inconvenient fact is, that cities and towns around Canada need a massive influx of housing but no one knows where to put it.
We can do what many countries are doing and build whole new cities like Jedda, Abuja, Cairo or Singapore out in the woods somewhere. I'm more for vertical growth but at this point I'd take what we can get.
I agree on the AirBnB's, those need to be regulated. I've refused to use them on vacation to my wallets dismay, standing for something usually has a cost. The issue with these older buildings being "fixed up" and charge market rates is that they aren't worth it. They can get that much because of lack of a better option, if we had other new options those older ones would fall back to the middle of the pack quickly.
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