Cost of housing in Canada

[Colin Parkinson]

Nice work, governments....

'We can no longer build what people can afford': Warning for Vancouver real estate as 2,500 condos sit unsold​

Industry professionals say unbought condos could lead to big layoffs​

About 2,500 new condos are sitting unsold and empty in Metro Vancouver, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

That number is double what it was last year, according to CMHC.

Anne McMullin, president and CEO of Urban Development Institute, says the reason is that condos cost more to build than local residents can afford.

"Costs have escalated so much in the last 10 years that to build a unit is out of the price range of 80 per cent of the public in the Metro Vancouver area," McMullin said.

Metro Vancouver's condo development industry is in crisis. There are about 2,500 new units sitting empty — with developers offering a variety of incentives to try to sell them. As Amelia John reports, people who work in the sector say it's no longer economically viable to build new projects.
Developers don't want to sell at a loss either, according to McMullin.

"You're not going to build to lose money."

She said the market had been absorbing escalating costs, including rising labour and materials costs, for years as industry professionals sensed prices would continue to rise.

But now she also blames recent government policies that have increased the cost of building.

"The cost that is associated with policies at all three levels of government has made it that we can no longer build what people can afford," she said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/unsold-condos-metro-vancouver-bc-2025-1.7647776

I was hearing that permitting fees can be in the $100,000 for a house here in the lower mainland, not sure if that's true, but it seems the fees are a major driver of costs.

 

[mariomike]

Saw this about Garden Suites.

Toronto Sun

Sep 28, 2025

Garden Suite same size as two homes combined.

‘BLUE MONSTER’: Tiny homes dwarfed by city-approved backyard ‘Goliath’

Ailsa McFarlane says her neighbour’s “blue monster” of a garden suite is roughly as large as both her home and the one next door combined.

torontosun.com

 

[Eaglelord17]

So I just found a model of public housing which is very similar to the concept I mentioned a while ago with a dedicated crown corp to build public housing.

Vienna in Austria has a public housing model which has been in use since the 20s. 50% of their population live in public housing, but it isn’t ghettoed or poor quality, rather integrated with decent sizes and capacities.

It keeps housing costs on the private market down as there is cheap competition to it and makes it so things like shoebox condos will never happen there as who would want them when better options exist.

It requires real long term thinking though as it is not for profit and uses the rent from paid off buildings to fund future purchases.

How Vienna took the stigma out of social housing

In some European cities living in social housing is a misfortune. In Austria’s capital it’s an indicator of high-quality urban life.

www.politico.eu

 

[mariomike]

Housing market by city.

19 Sept., 2025

Canadian Housing Market Report Sep. 19th, 2025 | Interactive Map - WOWA.ca

Canada's national average home price was $664,078 in August 2025, as most provinces continue to see modest annual price growth.

wowa.ca