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Cost of housing in Canada

In fairness to the market, the government incentivized homes as investments through their policies, so it was a twonsoded effort to get us to this dysfunctional housing market.
Could have avoided a lot of the problems by just denying the permits to build these unlivable condos.

Minimum standards as to size and living conditions should be set higher to begin with.
 
Governments want more people living in smaller spaces at higher densities. Nothing about what has been permitted so far was by mistake.

Development fees are a consequence of municipalities exhausting their traditional tax bases.
 
Could have avoided a lot of the problems by just denying the permits to build these unlivable condos.

Minimum standards as to size and living conditions should be set higher to begin with.
Depends on what you call "liveable". I had a 450 sq ft apartment at one time that had a full kitchen, and was perfect for a single person living alone. No wasted space, and everything a single person needed. That said, I wasn't paying a premium for the privilege of having no extra space.

I know people with full kitchens that only microwave or air fry their food, so not having a full kitchen wouldn't change their lifestyle.

The problem with the "unliveable" condos in Toronto, Vancouver, etc., isn't necessarily the size, it's the cost for the unit size you're getting. That's why people aren't buying them.
 
Depends on what you call "liveable". I had a 450 sq ft apartment at one time that had a full kitchen, and was perfect for a single person living alone. No wasted space, and everything a single person needed. That said, I wasn't paying a premium for the privilege of having no extra space.

I know people with full kitchens that only microwave or air fry their food, so not having a full kitchen wouldn't change their lifestyle.

The problem with the "unliveable" condos in Toronto, Vancouver, etc., isn't necessarily the size, it's the cost for the unit size you're getting. That's why people aren't buying them.
As did I, but if municipalities are approving buildings full of nothing but, they they are not meeting the needs of much of their population of couples and, in particular, families. When your housing market is primarily suitable for singles only, you're not building residences, you're building dorms.
 
As did I, but if municipalities are approving buildings full of nothing but, they they are not meeting the needs of much of their population of couples and, in particular, families. When your housing market is primarily suitable for singles only, you're not building residences, you're building dorms.

Left wing government policy, and what will solve the housing crisis, are not quite the same thing.

But, of course, big government knows best, right? ;)


Homebuilding alone won’t solve Canada’s housing crisis​


Clearly, because any conceivable boost in homebuilding won’t, on its own, resolve the housing affordability crisis, the federal government must get serious about the other two parts of the equation: immigration policy, which drives housing demand, and economic policy, which affects the incomes of Canadians.

Canada’s population growth, which is almost entirely driven by federal immigration policy, has overwhelmed housing supply. Federal immigration targets remain historically high despite lackluster homebuilding. This imbalance contributes to rising home prices and rents. To improve housing affordability, the government must better align the number of new immigrants with the country’s capacity to build new homes. The government can also prioritize immigrants with homebuilding skills.

Housing affordability isn’t just about prices—it’s also about income. If take-home pay rises faster than house prices and rent, Canadians will get ahead. But over the past two decades, the opposite has happened—after-tax incomes have barely increased while housing costs have soared.

To help promote economic growth and substantially raise incomes for Canadian workers, the Carney government should streamline regulations and remove barriers to resource development. The government should also lower taxes on personal and business income, and reform capital gains taxes, to make Canada more attractive to investment and high-skilled workers and entrepreneurs that create jobs and opportunity. And the government should rein in spending and borrowing, which crowd out private investment and hamper the economy.

Canada must build more homes. But to help meaningfully improve housing affordability, the Carney government must also better align immigration policy with housing capacity, grow the economy and reduce taxes.

 
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