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Posted Finance

The $13 Billion Question: Will Ottawa’s “Build Canada Homes” Fix Our Broken Housing Market, or Just Build More Problems?

Another week, another blockbuster announcement from Ottawa aimed at solving our national housing crisis. This time, it’s a shiny new federal agency dubbed “Build Canada Homes,” launched with a cool $13 billion of your money. The promise? To slice through the red tape, leverage public lands, and finally start building the affordable homes that Canadians are so desperately crying out for. On the surface, it sounds like the cavalry cresting the hill. But as anyone who’s been in the real estate and mortgage game as long as I have knows, the devil is always in the details. And in this case, the details are as sparse as a downtown Toronto parking spot.

So, let’s peel back the layers of this government onion and see if it brings tears of joy or sorrow. What is this program really going to do?

THE GRAND PLAN: PUBLIC LANDS, PREFAB HOMES, AND A WHOLE LOT OF HOPE

The core idea behind Build Canada Homes is for the federal government to become a master developer. They’re planning to use vast swaths of public land – we’re talking about 88 federal properties spanning 463 hectares, roughly the size of downtown Ottawa – to build everything from high-rise apartments to single-family homes. The initial rollout is slated for six cities: Dartmouth, Longueuil, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton, with a first-phase target of 4,000 factory-built homes.

Continue reading “The $13 Billion Question: Will Ottawa’s “Build Canada Homes” Fix Our Broken Housing Market, or Just Build More Problems?”
Posted Bank News

Ask the Expert: Steve Garganis – Solutions for a flatlining condo market and New Year predictions

With 2024 behind us and the new year upon us, the housing market is in a delicate balance. Interest rates are declining, which is great news for borrowers. However, these cuts are giving way to a small rebound in the housing market, and, to many real estate watchers, threatening to bring on another affordability crisis.

At the same time, no jumbo cut nor government incentive to bring first-time homebuyers into the field seems to be helping a stagnated condo market.

In my interview with RATESDOTCA, I shared my thoughts on what buyers and sellers can expect in 2025 and some moonshot ideas on how to revive condo development in Canada. Read more – Interview with Steve.

 I hope you will enjoy this article and if you have any questions or would like to discuss I am always available.

Your best interest is my only interest. I reply to all questions and I welcome your comments. Like this article? Share with a friend.

Steve Garganis: 416-224-0114; steve@canadamortgagenews.

Posted Finance

Housing crisis.. Made in Canada

It’s really not that complicated.  If you really want to resolve the housing crisis you just need to do these FIVE things

  • 1. Bring back 35 year amortization periods and increase qualifying home prices to $1,250,000 or higher.
  • 2.Remove rent control rules.
  • 3.Halt new immigration until we can build up enough support services to handle what we have already. *(exception below)
  • 4.Cut back on the municipal, provincial gov’t Red Tape to build any type of residential housing and that includes purpose built rental apartment buildings.
  • 5.Create a hiring program to entice and incentivize people to get into skilled trades …and bring over people from outside Canada if you have to (this would be my exception to point 2 above)
  • Do this and you’ll soon have more housing units available than you could even dream of.  It could be done in 3 to 5 years.  It’s just not that complicated.
Continue reading “Housing crisis.. Made in Canada”
Posted 1 Comment on Population Crisis Part 1: The Bad News Finance

Population Crisis Part 1: The Bad News

Well, it’s safe to say that our federal government has officially lost the plot. Immigration numbers have exploded, and Trudeau has done absolutely nothing to prepare for the mass amounts of newcomers flowing in. Pre-Trudeau, we were receiving on average 200,000 immigrants per year. Under Trudeau, that number ramped up to 400,000, then 500,000, then 1,200,000.

Continue reading “Population Crisis Part 1: The Bad News”