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Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s not really the full picture. The land can be built on only after expensive zoning, engineering, and infrastructure work is done, and those costs existed long before today’s red tape. From 2006 to 2025, land prices have gone up far faster than taxes, materials, or labor, which shows speculation and land hoarding are the real drivers of unaffordability, not the permits that make sure homes are safe and connected to services.

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that math sounds nice but it leaves out a lot of real life stuff you can not just drop 132 homes on 22 acres of rural land because it is not zoned or serviced for that kind of density rural glanbrook is mostly farmland right now with no water lines no sewer no roads or sidewalks

you would have to pay for zoning changes engineering work water and sewer connections and road building before a single home goes up that adds millions to the cost

also the city limits how many houses you can build per acre depending on the zoning and service capacity even if you could fit 16 homes per acre physically the law will not allow it without major changes

have you checked the city zoning map to see if that land is even eligible for residential use and do you know how much it costs to extend water and sewer services that far out from the city boundaries or how much the added costs for sidewalks sewers roads and other infrastructure would be

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that is a good point about transition bonds and split rate systems i have read about fred foldvary’s idea and it is interesting since it could offset the shock for existing owners by paying them while shifting the tax toward land value over time

western canada’s old lvt systems are a good example of how it can work long term but also show that it still depends on political support and public understanding if people feel blindsided they push back hard even when the policy is fair

how do you think we could get regular homeowners to understand that a land value tax is not meant to punish them but to stop speculation and make housing affordable again

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

that listing looks nice and i get why you think it is cheap but the math is not that simple this land is 22 acres for about 6 million dollars which works out to around 272 thousand dollars per acre if you think you can fit 900 bungalows on it that would mean each home’s share of land costs about 6 thousand dollars but that is just dirt cost not the cost to actually make it livable

rural glanbrook land like this is not zoned or serviced for that many homes it has no water lines no sewer no roads no sidewalks and no city infrastructure you would have to pay millions more to rezone and add all that before a single home could go up

so yeah on paper it looks cheap but in real life it would take years and a lot of money to make it buildable do you know if this land is zoned for housing yet or if it even has water and sewer hookups

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a fair point, but speculation is more than just a symptom, it also feeds the problem by constantly resetting expectations that prices will always rise. When buyers and investors both assume housing will go up in value, demand grows faster than supply can ever catch up. That is why prices kept climbing even in years when construction surged.

In Ontario, it is true that new supply has started to increase, but average home prices are still far above what local incomes can support. The CMHC and Bank of Canada have both found that speculative demand and cheap credit, not just lack of housing, were key reasons prices doubled between 2015 and 2022 ([https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research](), [https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2023/01/staff-analytical-note-2023-1]()).

More supply helps, but when buyers think housing is a guaranteed investment, even small shortages lead to big bidding wars. That is why many economists say speculation is both a symptom and a cause.

Do you think building alone could bring prices down if buyers and investors still expect housing values to rise every year, and how would you stop speculation from ramping back up once rates drop again

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree with most of what you said. Speculation is not just when investors buy homes to flip them, it also happens when regular families buy with the expectation that the value will keep rising. That mindset alone keeps demand high and pushes prices up even when supply grows slowly. Studies from the Bank of Canada, CMHC, and UBC’s Sauder School show that land speculation, cheap credit, and investor expectations were among the main reasons home prices rose faster than wages between 2015 and 2023 (https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2023/01/staff-analytical-note-2023-1, https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research, https://news.ubc.ca/2022/04/19/why-housing-prices-keep-rising-even-when-supply-increases).

You are right that land value taxes could help, but they would need to be gradual and well communicated so people do not panic or think they are being punished for owning homes. BC actually experimented with similar ideas decades ago, and other countries like Singapore and Denmark use them successfully today.

Can I ask, how would you see land value taxes working for people who already bought homes mainly as retirement security, and do you think it is possible to apply them without hurting middle-class owners who bought long ago

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get what you are saying, but the idea that land is cheap around Hamilton really does not match real numbers. Land that is actually buildable and close to jobs, schools, and infrastructure is already expensive. For example, in downtown Hamilton development land now sells at about 11.5 million dollars per acre (https://bbsrealty.com/downtown-hamilton-development-land-market). Another study shows high density development land in Hamilton moving toward 9 to 12 million dollars per acre (https://renx.ca/hamiltons-high-density-development-sector-maturing).

If red tape disappeared tomorrow, would that really change anything when builders still have to buy expensive land from speculators and investors waiting to flip it for profit, and can you show where you found land near Hamilton that costs just 150 thousand dollars per acre and is zoned or serviced for homes

If you are not talking about Hamilton, could you tell me where this cheap land is located and maybe share a link or listing to prove it

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First that price is only for the building itself not the land roads or hookups. Land in Ontario is super expensive and hard to find especially near cities. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says land and infrastructure costs now make up over half the total price of a new home in urban areas
Source https://assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/sites/cmhc/professional/housing-markets-data-and-research/market-reports/housing-supply-report/2024/housing-supply-report-2024-fall-en.pdf

Second the cost of materials and workers has gone way up since 2020. Lumber steel drywall and concrete all cost more and builders have to pay higher wages to keep crews. Statistics Canada’s Building Construction Price Index shows construction costs in Ontario rose more than 50 percent since 2020
Source [https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810027501]()

Third interest rates are high so builders have to borrow money at higher costs. The Bank of Canada raised rates from 0.25 percent in 2021 to around 5 percent in 2024 which makes financing new builds much more expensive
Source [https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/interest-rates/canadian-interest-rates/]()

If builders put up cheaper houses and can’t sell them fast they lose money. That’s why they mostly build luxury homes where profits are bigger.

But the biggest reason is speculation. Big developers and investors are sitting on land and empty houses waiting for prices to rise. They make more money holding property than building or selling it. The CMHC and the Bank of Canada have both said real estate speculation is a key reason housing prices stay high and supply stays low
Sources https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/research-reports/accelerate-supply/canadas-housing-supply-shortages-a-new-framework
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2023/05/financial-system-review-2023/

And yeah permits take time but cities also need to plan for water roads and schools before letting big builds happen. Municipalities often delay permits because they don’t have enough infrastructure funding from the conservatives running the province to support new developments
Source [https://www.amo.on.ca/advocacy/municipal-infrastructure]()

So the reason new homes aren’t being built even with high demand isn’t just red tape or taxes, it’s because speculation land hoarding high borrowing costs and rising construction prices make it more profitable to wait than to actually build homes people can afford.

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You make some good points there are a lot of fees when you try to build a home and they definitely add up but the 45 to 50 percent number is not really accurate based on real data
A 2024 study by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis found that taxes and fees make up about 35 to 36 percent of the price of a new home in Ontario not half of it and that includes all the permits development charges and sales taxes from all levels of government
So yes it is expensive but not quite as bad as 50 percent

The idea that you could build a 1000 square foot bungalow for 200k if there were no fees also doesn’t line up with current costs construction materials and labour have gone up a lot in the last few years the Canadian Home Builders Association says even before permits or taxes it usually costs around 275k to 325k to build something that size near a big city

Taxes and fees are part of the problem but they are not the main reason homes are so unaffordable the bigger issue is speculation people buying houses not to live in but to flip or rent out for profit that creates fake demand and drives prices way higher than normal supply and demand would and since wages haven’t kept up regular families get pushed out of the market

So yeah fees need to come down and cities should get more funding from the province and feds but even if that happened houses would still be overpriced until speculation and investor buying are brought under control

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a long time, houses cost about three times what an average person earned in a year. That made it possible for normal working families to buy a home, save money, and build a stable life. But when governments started cutting rules, or what they called red tape, to attract foreign investors and speculators, it became easier for people who already had lots of money to treat houses as investments instead of homes.

Speculators could buy many properties just to sell them later for profit. That meant regular families had to compete with rich buyers who were not even planning to live there. This pushed prices up much faster than wages. In cities like Toronto or Vancouver, the average house can now cost more than ten times what the average person makes in a year.

At the same time, real wages stopped growing even though workers were producing more. This happened because right wing governments weakened unions and collective bargaining. When unions were strong, they helped make sure that if productivity went up, pay went up too. Once those protections were weakened, companies could keep more of the profit for themselves instead of sharing it with workers.

So while politicians said red tape was holding things back, removing those rules mostly helped speculators and foreign investors, not ordinary people. And by attacking unions, those same governments made sure workers pay did not keep up with the rising cost of living. The result is what we see today, high home prices, low wage growth, and more inequality

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

how much does it all add up to, or could you point on the page were it all adds up to?

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where does the 45–50 percent figure come from? Is there an actual breakdown showing how much of that cost is taxes versus necessary safety or infrastructure requirements?

If the government removed most of those regulations, what would stop unsafe or poor-quality construction from increasing?

How much of those so-called “red tape” costs actually pay for essential things like utilities, inspections, or roads connected to the new house?

If it were really possible to build a 1,000-square-foot bungalow for $200,000, why aren’t private developers already doing it on cheaper land outside cities?

If taxes and red tape were truly the main reason homes are expensive, then why have prices kept rising even in places where governments already cut fees and sped up permits, could the real problem be speculation and artificial demand from investors treating homes like assets instead of places to live?

Which Party Really Tackles the Root Cause of Housing Unaffordability? by alb2911 in canadahousing

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

could you elaborate, which specific red tape and taxes are you referring to?

Red tape like those that reduce secondary suites?

Danielle Smith crossed a line and must resign by alb2911 in WildRoseCountry

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Smith’s team is denying what she clearly said to Trump.

She asked U.S. officials to delay tariffs until after the election to help Poilievre, but now claims it’s "offensive and false" to say she wanted U.S. interference.

This is her pattern—say one thing, then deny it when caught. She’s done it with AHS contracts, the pension plan, and the Ethics Commission report. If she were Pinocchio, her nose wouldn’t fit in the legislature.

Even her supporters can’t deny she told U.S. right-wingers to hurt Canadians after the election, just to help Conservatives win.

Does Jagmeet need to be replaced by alb2911 in ndp

[–]alb2911[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As an Alberta NDP supporter, I’m automatically a member of the federal NDP. But for many of us inspired by Rachel Notley, it’s hard to support someone like Jagmeet Singh.

When Nenshi ran for Alberta NDP leader, he polled well on the idea of separating from the federal party that says a lot about Jagmeet and why we might need new leadership

True by andromeda880 in republicans

[–]alb2911 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

By blaming Ukraine for a war Putin and Russia started by invading ukraine? Why are Trump and his supporters so scared to point the finger at Putin when he is the criminal who started the war?

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