Ottawa, ON – Owning a home was once a normal part of life for Canadian families. But years of Liberal policies have put it out of reach for millions, especially the young. Despite promising to “double the pace of construction”, after more than a year of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Canada is still falling behind.
If Canadians are fortunate enough to have their own roof, the costs are through it. According to RBC, Canadians households need to spend 53.2 per cent of their median pre-tax income to own a home. In 2015, it was under 40 per cent. No wonder a recent study found that Canadians in most major metros found it harder to afford a mortgage.
Unfortunately, this is a made-in-Canada problem. Since 2015, Canadian home prices have increased by 28 per cent faster than their incomes – the highest in the G7.
Development charges in the City of Toronto have reached a whopping $140,000 on a single family home, up from $35,000 when the federal Conservatives left office. Even cutting them in half would not restore affordability to 2015 levels.
This shouldn’t be surprising when Gregor Robertson, the PM’s handpicked housing minister, presided over a 149 per cent increase in home prices as Mayor of Vancouver – with homebuilding taxes spiking by 141 per cent.
Now, the government’s own housing agency predicts that “national housing starts are expected to decline through 2026-2028 as developers face high costs, softer demand and elevated inventories” – projecting a collapse of up to 18.1 per cent. And the Canadian Homebuilders’ Association found that 38 per cent of homebuilders and their contractors have had to lay off workers.
Their recent HST pause on new homes in Ontario was too little, too late; projected to bring only 8,000 new starts and failing to provide long-term certainty to buyers and builders. And the Liberals’ new(ish) housing bureaucracy has spent zero dollars on capital investment and built no new housing.
Carney promised to build at speeds not seen since the Second World War, and Conservatives are ready to help them. That’s why Conservatives proposed axing taxes on home purchases over three years ago. But Canadians need real results that put shovels in the ground: not more marketing campaigns or bureaucracy.