Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the uptake of a new savings account for first-time homebuyers is exceeding expectation, though she acknowledged the limits of what it can do to address affordability.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. has forecast that the country needs 3.5 million more homes by 2030 than the country is currently on track to build.
With the speed of homebuilding not matching population growth, economists at both National Bank and TD Bank warned last week that the high levels of newcomers to Canada threaten to make the housing affordability crisis worse.
The federal government has a bunch of tools to lower demand or increase supply. And their response is to create a TFSA?
It’s embarrassing. We all know how to fix this issue, but they refuse to do it because people would lose their paper gains.
The only was this gets solved is if renters become a voting block and demand that prices actually go down. How they get driven down is up to some limited debate. But the real hurdle is having people acknowledge that in order to improve affordability, prices have to actually go down.
It’s so stupid. The problem with the housing market isn’t that I don’t have a proper account to keep a $200k down payment that is needed.
The TFSA has a limit of $40k and you can “only” save $8k/year. So you wouldn’t be able to get an actual down payment in there anyway.
But yeah, point taken. The TFSA is an insufficient response to a real problem.
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. has forecast that the country needs 3.5 million more homes by 2030 than the country is currently on track to build.
So, and hear me out here, why the hell doesn’t the CMHC build public housing like they used to? You know, like before the late 1990s when every level of government just abdicated responsibility for anyone who wasn’t already rich.
yes plz
So…
I’m supposed to save money–that I can’t save because rents are through the fucking roof–in an account that will probably lose money thanks to inflation.
Yeah, just say it: “We’re avoiding dealing with the problem but want to a) look like we’re doing something, and b) put the blame on the people trying to save for a home, instead of the investor class’ rampant speculation”.
I came to Canada 13 years ago, and while I make more money here than I ever did in the States, it’ll still never be enough to buy a place. Honestly though, the idea of owning a house and being responsible for its maintenance and upkeep is utterly repellent to me. I’d rather rent forever and have all that nonsense be someone else’s problem. I ain’t got the time or patience for it.
Issue is that housing prices also affect renters as landlords will insist on making a return on their “investment” sooner rather than later.
We need to bomb the real estate market.
