Cost of housing in Canada

[Brad Sallows]

"I want to live where everyone else lives."

"Housing is too expensive."

 

[QV]

The ads seem to be targeting young urbanites from the GTA and Vancouver.

I wonder if they will have an impact on Alberta voting ( municipal, provincial and federal ).

Even the young urbanites are sick of the status quo when home affordability seems forever beyond their reach. Besides, all are welcome in Alberta. This province has the youngest demographic for a reason.

 

[btrudy]

"I want to live where everyone else lives."

"Housing is too expensive."

People have a reasonable expectation that their spouse would be able to find employment, or, you know, that they might be able to find a spouse.

Moving the entire CAF into a series of shitty rural communities where there's nothing going on isn't going to help our retention crisis, but neither will not paying people enough to be able to afford to live in the population centres places that we do have bases.

Either thing makes the problem worse, which is why it's a good thing that they're not the only two options.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Somewhere between population centres and shitty rural communities lie the fringes of population centres. It's not an either/or.

Changing jobs is always an option. It's also more exciting during periods of economic unrest and distress.

 

[dimsum]

Somewhere between population centres and shitty rural communities lie the fringes of population centres. It's not an either/or.

Changing jobs is always an option. It's also more exciting during periods of economic unrest and distress.

The problem is that those fringes become population centres.

When I was growing up, Borden (and
Barrie) was so fringe that it might as well be Manitoba. Now it’s a “short” commute to Toronto.

 

[dapaterson]

Like my aunt and uncle having a remote cottage on a beautiful lake in the 70s, in a place nobody ever goes. You know, in the Muskokas.

 

[QV]

The problem is that those fringes become population centres.

When I was growing up, Borden (and
Barrie) was so fringe that it might as well be Manitoba. Now it’s a “short” commute to Toronto.

I see a pattern forming, be a shame if no one took advantage…

 

[btrudy]

I see a pattern forming, be a shame if no one took advantage…

Let's not encourage treating housing as a vehicle for investment speculation. Driving up the average cost of housing lowers our collective quality of life.

 

[Brad Sallows]

If more people were encouraged to invest in housing, we'd have more of it.

Driving up the cost of housing doesn't lower QoL any more than driving up the cost of equities does; it's still a store of value. What affects QoL is if the bottom drops out of the market. What's f*cking prospective homeowners over is inflation, interest rate increases, and government cash dumps into the middle class (lower taxes, various transfers to individuals).

 

[btrudy]

If more people were encouraged to invest in housing, we'd have more of it.

Driving up the cost of housing doesn't lower QoL any more than driving up the cost of equities does; it's still a store of value. What affects QoL is if the bottom drops out of the market. What's f*cking prospective homeowners over is inflation, interest rate increases, and government cash dumps into the middle class (lower taxes, various transfers to individuals).

Nonsense. You don't need equities to survive. You need housing to survive. Driving up the cost of it only benefits those who already own it. It hurts literally everyone else.

 

[AmmoTech90]

Young urban leftists want locally owned, locally roasted fair trade coffee with ethically sourced vegan scones, none of the Starbucks corporate BS.

People are discovering that places with less than 1,000,000 population are not homogeneous, backwards, cesspits.

Medicine Hat

• 3 Starbucks plus one in a Safeway.
• Two boutique coffee shops down town, one of which roasts its own
• At least three cafes with snacks, two of which offer live music occasionally, one has an in house art gallery.
• Place that will roast and deliver your coffee to order.
• Boutique olive oil shop, opened 2016, still going strong. Other places like that.
• Active music scene. More metal, punk, EDM than country. Folk shows might even outnumber country.
• Largest mountain bike trail system between Calgary and somewhere in Ontario
• Ousted crony mayor and his council. Now has a progressive, growth friendly council.
• Free library cards.
• $5 steak sandwiches served in at least two bars. You can get 10 packs of the steaks right from the butcher for $50 and they are really good.
• Elected an NDP MLA in the previous election. The current NDP candidate is running unopposed as the UCP incumbent is stepping down.

And most importantly,

Medicine Hat- Its not Red Deer

Yes, there are 19 chronically homeless folks. Yes, there are big stupid coal rolling trucks. Yes, there are too many nutjob churches.
But its not hicksville by a long shot.

 

[brihard]

Driving up the cost of housing doesn't lower QoL any more than driving up the cost of equities does; it's still a store of value. What affects QoL is if the bottom drops out of the market. What's f*cking prospective homeowners over is inflation, interest rate increases, and government cash dumps into the middle class (lower taxes, various transfers to individuals).

I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you’ve owned a home for some time, and haven’t recently been in the position of being a young professional in an urban area hoping to enter the ownership market for the first time.

 

[mariomike]

It's the zoning.

Notice all the yellow? Those are designated as neighbourhoods. Only single detached houses are permitted.

I can't see our local ratepayers association getting on board with any changes to the neighborhood.

toronto residential zones - Bing

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[btrudy]

It's the zoning.

Notice all the yellow? Those are designated as neighbourhoods. Only single detached houses are permitted.

I can't see our local ratepayers association getting on board with any changes to the neighborhood.

toronto residential zones - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

I'm firmly convinced that Japan has zoning right; it's jurisdiction of the federal government, not the municipalities. having everything local hands way too much power to the NIMBYs.

 

[mariomike]

I'm firmly convinced that Japan has zoning right; it's jurisdiction of the federal government, not the municipalities. having everything local hands way too much power to the NIMBYs.

From what I saw, I'm firmly convinced Japan has just about everything right.

 

[Eaglelord17]

I am at the point where I believe private companies shouldn’t be allowed to own single dwelling homes. Many companies use our housing as a investment not a necessity. Simple example being in my relatively small city (approx 75k) one company bought up over 180 houses in the last two years, not to mention the other companies doing the same. We went from a city where a person working minimum wage could own a house to now requiring at least 25-30$ a hour to own one.

I wouldn’t trust everything Japan has going on, they are big on appearances but there is a dark underbelly to that society.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

It's the zoning.

Notice all the yellow? Those are designated as neighbourhoods. Only single detached houses are permitted.

I can't see our local ratepayers association getting on board with any changes to the neighborhood.

toronto residential zones - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

I was at a meeting last night in Guelph with a group we call OURNA , (Old University Residental Neighborhood Association), and the Ontario Govt will soon be taking that out of cities/towns/areas hands. Pretty much approving all "Mother in law" apartments in single dwelling homes will be first up.
That's what was passed down to us from those who attend higher meetings.....

 

[Brad Sallows]

Shelter is a necessity; ownership is not.

For every buyer there's a seller; there isn't a collective lowering of QoL. Nor is there necessarily an individual lowering of QoL; it's still an asset. Maybe it goes into your estate; maybe you take back out the extra money you put in when you downsize later in life.

The problem is supply. Supply problems are best solved by removing disincentives to creating more supply. Zoning and hindrances on developers/investors are common disincentives. On the demand side, governments could stop throwing money at the middle class; it's just a rising tide lifting most boats. Also, we could stop resisting population shrinkage.

 

[btrudy]

Supply problems should also be strongly tackled by governments directly: build low income housing.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Nonsense. You don't need equities to survive. You need housing to survive. Driving up the cost of it only benefits those who already own it. It hurts literally everyone else.

On the wet coast the housing market is sustained by offshore money, and not much is going to change that.