Category: Canada housing market

Federal Housing Advocate Critical of Profit-Driven Housing Market, Calls for Regulation

Canada’s federal housing advocate told a House of Commons committee on May 9 that the profit-driven housing market is “harming people” and should be regulated. She said that only regulations will lower prices and that the market-driven housing industry is not working well. Marie-Josée Houle, who was appointed in February 2022 to the position under the National Housing…


Fed Housing Strategy Yields Too Few Homes, According to Inquiry Data

The federal government’s housing strategy has only managed to finance the construction of some 106,000 homes since 2019, according to new government data. An Inquiry of Minister presented in the House of Commons by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) provided data on the numbImmer of residential units that have been built through the strategy…


Ottawa Amends Foreign Home Buyers Ban to Increase Exceptions

The federal government has announced several amendments to its ban on foreign investors purchasing non-recreational residential property in Canada that will increase exceptions to the regulations, such as allowing non-Canadians to purchase residential property for development purposes. The announcement, made by Housing, Diversity, and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen on March 27, amends regulations brought into force by the…


Toronto’s House Prices Will Continue to Fall, but Not at the Speed Seen This Spring: RBC Report

Despite soaring interest rates that have dampened Toronto’s housing market in recent months, a new RBC report says the slide in activity “seems to be stabilizing.” “The last four months have been very quiet but the sharp declining trend seems to be stabilizing,” said Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist at RBC, in his Nov. 7…


Canada’s Housing Market on Verge of a Major Correction, RBC Predicts

Canadians can soon expect the largest housing market correction in over 40 years, the Royal Bank of Canada predicts in a new report. Robert Hogue, an analyst at RBC Economics and the author of the report, said surging inflation has caused RBC to change its former economic forecast to a more severe alternative. “The economic…


PBO, Critics Question Feds’ High Spending Even as Planned Stimulus No Longer Needed

The federal government is continuing its high-spending ways despite the end of its rationale for doing so, say the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) and others concerned about long-term economic consequences. “Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has spent, or has planned to spend, $541.9 billion in new measures—almost one third of which [$176.6…