What will Canadian housing look like now, after the election?
The election is over. Nothing changed – in terms of the government running the country. The election did little to change the parliamentary makeup in Ottawa. The federal Liberals again take their seats as a minority government.
One of the cornerstone campaign issues, for all parties in the election, was the housing crisis.
The Housing Crisis:
The housing crisis is not a new issue. Many have argued there was little improvement under the previous government. And many are skeptical it will be any different under the new one.
According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the average price of a home in this country has gone up more than 50% over the last five years. And it’s not slowing. Even if there is a cooling-off period – it would have to last a while to bring prices back down to “affordable” for most Canadian household families.
The Housing Solution:
Municipalities might hold the key when it comes to affordable housing.
The overarching solution that’s long been put forward, and is being repeated more loudly by policy experts now, is to saturate the market with more supply to try to catch the pace of demand and moderate prices. More supply is a great start, especially in cities such as Vancouver, Toronto, Saskatoon, etc.
“While housing affordability has been a challenging situation, we don’t see any relief in sight under the current trajectory,” said Trevor Hargreaves, vice-president of government relations and stakeholder engagement for the B.C. Real Estate Association.
“What we’re seeing is the result of multiple years of undersupply — our government really hasn’t focused on supply as an overall priority,” he said. “We’ve been producing much fewer homes than most of the other countries in the G7.”
Pair that with up to 400,000 people a year moving to Canada under very intensive immigration targets, he says, without Ottawa coming up with a comprehensive plan to house all those people.
For more information or to read more about this, follow this link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-housing-landscape-change-new-federal-government-real-estate-1.6186072
Conclusion:
If you are in the market for housing – the market is still a seller’s market. However, if you need a home for stability for your family, purchasing at the height is not always a bad thing if you plan to be in our home for years to come.
As always, if you need help buying or selling your come do not hesitate to reach out to Gregg or Ryan Bamford.
