Housing news & insights
-
The Globe & Mail: Young Canadians go to school longer for jobs that pay less, and then face soaring home prices
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.
Read more -
We need to talk about Canada’s $3.2 trillion home-grown tax shelter – the principal residence exemption
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.
Read more -
Are people who live in homes worth $1 million wealthy?
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.
Read more -
Canadian public supports housing surtax proposal, new poll shows
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.
Read more -
Should Canadians concerned about high and rising home prices welcome high gas prices?
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.
Read more -
Budget 2022 doesn’t fix the poor job Canada’s inflation measure does at representing our biggest source of inflation: Part 3 of our inflation series
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.
Read more -
Statistics Canada proposes sticking with the status quo – no need to change harmful mismeasurement of housing price inflation: Part 2 of our inflation series
In January, Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 5.1%, the fastest annual increase in over three decades. This is worrying, but what is even more concerning to us, here at Generation Squeeze, is that the true rate of inflation is much higher than this CPI reading suggests. Last time, we discussed how CPI, as constructed by Statistics Canada (StatsCan), does a poor job at representing inflation because it doesn’t adequately respond to changes in home values.
Read more -
Decades late reporting worrisome inflation, Statistics Canada enables inaction on housing affordability
Canadians are now hearing a lot about our inflation woes. But it’s surprising that this story is only just taking center stage when rampant inflation to the largest expense faced by all Canadians – housing – has been the norm for the last 20 years.
Read more -
We have tolerated homes becoming more unaffordable by mismeasuring inflation: Part 1 of our new inflation series
Like many Canadians, you might be worried about rising prices, a.k.a inflation. Seeing prices go up can be an unpleasant experience. You’re working as hard as ever, but your paycheque doesn’t go as far as it used to. The price of everything - from food to furniture to gas - is rising. But nowhere is inflation more evident than in the housing market.
Read more