The federal government is ready to take "additional steps if necessary" to support housing affordability, says Finance Minister Christie A Freeland said on Friday.
"Our government is committed tohousing affordabilityfor Canadians (Canadian wanting to buy a home). We have an absolute focus on enabling people to buy homes, and on making homes affordable for Canadians, so that those who pay the rent can find decent places to live.” Freeland told reporters in Nova Scotia.
"This is a changing market and we are monitoring the situation very closely and stand ready to take additional steps if necessary."
}READ MORE: 2022 Budget — Tax-Free Savings Accounts for First-Time Home Buyers
Her comments Months after the Liberal government pledged to spend more than $10 billion on housing affordability over the next five years — but affordable housing remains out of reach for many. is.
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What's Happening to Housing?
According to Reuters, citing data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the average selling price of Canadian homes has surged by more than 50% in the past two years.
According to one study, that reality is painfully felt for Canadians.
A survey conducted last month by Canadian Certified Public Accountants (CPA Canada) found that half of Canadians who do not own a home said they would buy one even though prices are dropping. I find myself thinking that owning is still out of reach. Nationwide a little.
Nearly 90% of respondents said they believe rising interest rates are the biggest hurdle to entering the housing market. Borrowing costs are rising.
Read more: The Canadian housing market is cooling as interest rates rise. But rents are higher than ever
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At the same time, as a result of rising interest rates , the housing market is starting to cool.
CREA announced last month that June home sales were down 24% year-over-year. This comes as the central bank has followed a trend of significantly slowing housing activity since April after it launched its major interest rate hikes in March.
Meanwhile, average house prices fell 1.9% month-on-month in June, but rose 14.9% from the same period last year.
But this development is putting pressure on renters. We continue to expand.
According to Rentals.ca, the average monthly rent for all Canadian properties in June was $1,885, up 9.5% annually.
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So far, liberals have not
Liberal governments have made many promises aimed at addressing the issue of housing affordability. Here are those pledges.
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Tax-free first home savings account
Budget 2022: Plans have been outlined to create a new Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (TFFFHSA) to help Canadians struggling to enter the housing market save on down payment costs.
A real estate aspirant can save up to $40,000 per person from $8,000 per year towards the purchase of her first home. When buying as part of a household, each individual who puts money toward purchasing a home can save their own TFFHSA.
Government says new If you're planning on creating a savings account, the new tool won't be available until next year.
The budget also proposed doubling the first-time homebuyer tax credit to $10,000 retroactively to all homes purchased after January 1, 2022, but The government webpage still lists only $5,000., suggesting that this change has not yet taken effect.
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Build 400,000 New Homes
Housing in Next Decade A move to help increase supply, proponents say the move is a key part of the housing affordability equation.
Construction has not kept up with the country's population growth. In fact,a Scotiabank report published last year found that Canada had "the lowest number of homes per 1,000 inhabitants." of G7 countries.
But it is not clear if there will be enough workers to build them.
About 286,000 new homes are currently being built each year, according to his 2021 data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
Read more: Canada wants to build 400,000 homes a year. who builds them.
"It is not even clear if the pace (of construction) can be increased significantly. Given how difficult the labor and material conditions facing the industry are, And … for now,” Perrault, chief economist at Jean-François Scotiabank, said in an interview with Global News in April.
Labor shortages have continued to plague the construction industry since that interview. Statistics Canada released figures in June thatwere just under 50% of the construction industry.}
Recruitment of skilled employees continues to be a roadblock
Homebuyer's Bill of Rights and One-Time Payments
The government has pledged to consider and secure funding for a homebuyer's bill of rights - to "those facing housing affordability issues." $500 payment.
However, details of the payment remain unknown. When the budget was announced in April, the government said details of this assistance and how it would be implemented would be announced "at a later date." So far, there have been no announcements.
With regard to the homebuyer's bill of rights, the budget only offered plans to examine such documents. Nothing concrete was included at the time, and no such investigation has been conducted since.
— Using files from Global News' Craig Lord and The Canadian Press
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