Housing news & insights

We might all agree that Canada needs to build more homes. But it’s clear from Gen Squeeze’s comprehensive housing policy solutions framework that supply isn’t a silver bullet. Increasing the number of homes can help push down prices – but decreasing demand can have the same effect. Supply and demand are two sides of the same coin, but we tend to discuss the former as a potential solution far more than the latter.

If you want Canada to work fairly for all generations, here are five key take-aways from the Government of Canada’s Fall Economic Statement, released on November 3, 2022.

Amid all the talk of inflation these days, it’s easy to forget that a generation of young Canadians are shut out of home ownership in part because Statistics Canada failed to sound the alarm over rising housing prices decades ago.

Ontario’s Conservative government released the "More Homes Built Faster Act" on October 25, 2022. If passed, the legislation will aim to expand the supply of housing in the province by speeding up construction, reducing obstacles and fees for development, and increasing density near transit and in residential areas. This includes streamlining new affordable and rental housing developments. The proposed actions have merit but don't go far enough to fix record housing unaffordability. Read our analysis to find out what's missing from the plan.

This is Paul Kershaw's first article for a new bi-weekly personal finance column for The Globe & Mail: It is a cliché now to suggest that young people today drink too many lattes and eat too much avocado toast, so can’t afford their major costs of living; that they rely too much on handouts from parents – far past when a responsible adult should. They want it all now without working for it. You may have heard this nonsense enough that you’ve come to believe it. As founder of Generation Squeeze, I’ve been on a mission to show it’s not true. Because these myths inflict real harm, causing many younger people to feel that they are doing something wrong, or that they are personally failing when they struggle to establish a solid financial foundation.

The unfairness within Canada’s housing system is a feature, not a bug. As Gen Squeeze has repeatedly pointed out, ownership of a home confers a unique tax advantage that cannot be claimed for any other asset. That’s because the principal residence exemption largely shelters  housing wealth from taxation. To understand the implications of this, let’s look at a couple of scenarios.

The poll we recently commissioned shows that a sizable minority of Canadians view housing wealth differently than wealth from other sources – especially when this housing wealth is held by retirees. This attitude stands in the way of policy solutions for generational fairness.  In particular, it’s harder to make the case for tapping into a small amount of housing wealth windfalls to create more affordable housing, or pay for services retirees want like long-term care and pharmacare.

In this month's Maclean's Magazine, Gen Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw argues for a progressive surtax on homes worth more than a million dollars. In making his case, he says "polling data shows that two-thirds of Canadians support the surtax." The poll being referenced was commissioned by Gen Squeeze to gauge Canadian sentiments about housing wealth.

It’s hard to escape the news these days that interest rates are going up in response to pressures from rising inflation. The most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) release shows prices increasing at 6.7% annually, the highest since 1991. Inflation is concerning not only because higher prices are unpleasant – especially when wages and benefits don’t increase at the same rate.

Another month, another record high notch in the Consumer Price Index, aka inflation level (as we discussed last time). Consumer prices increased by 5.7% over the last year, the most in over three decades. The price of everything has been rising, but leading the way, as usual, is home prices. They are up by a record 29% since last year; 3.5% over the last month alone.