Search

Search results

1. U.S. cities increase affordability while housing costs rise in Canada’s major centres

   In some Canadian cities, housing costs grew more than 50 per cent faster than incomes. ...

2. Changes in the Affordability of Housing in Canadian and American Cities, 2006–2016

   By bringing together workers, capital, businesses, and ideas in a compact geographic market, cities promote improved productivity performance, and thereby faster economic growth and higher real incomes for workers. The affordability of housing in a city ...

3. How Ottawa can tackle the housing shortage

   After years of the federal government tinkering with housing demand (the mortgage stress-test, the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive and other stick-and-carrot approaches to how people can purchase homes), it’s clear that housing ...

4. After three years of squeezing demand, governments should target housing supply

   Appeared in the Globe and Mail, July 30, 2019 Three years ago this month, the British Columbia government dramatically increased the property transfer tax rate paid by foreign nationals and corporations purchasing residential real estate in Metro ...

5. B.C. government acknowledges how land-use regulations help determine home prices

   The Government of British Columbia recently released a report about the extent and effects of money laundering in the province’s real estate sector. It’s understandably difficult to measure criminal activity specifically designed to go ...

6. Feds should not get more involved in housing markets

   Average home prices are up almost 60 per cent in the GTA and 70 per cent in Metro Vancouver. ...

7. When explaining home prices, the fundamentals matter

   This year has been revelatory for Canadian housing markets. After years of rapid home-price growth emanating from key metro areas—notably Toronto and Vancouver—average prices have either dropped or stabilized, revealing important lessons ...

8. The most tangible threats to cities are manmade

   Although best known to Canadians as Halloween, October 31 is also World Cities Day —a time to think a bit, between the candy and costumes, about why cities are important and some key challenges they face. Canada is an urban country, with ...

9. B.C. budget—housing plan anything but ‘comprehensive’

   The B.C. government’s 2018 budget was widely expected to include measures aimed at housing affordability in the province’s most expensive real estate markets. Unfortunately, the measures announced continue to target the symptoms rather ...

10. It’s time for a balanced approach to understanding home prices

    House prices in Canada’s most desirable urban areas remain persistently high, and for years, headlines and government policies have focused almost exclusively on the demand side of the equation. In particular, relatively small pockets of ...