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Cost of housing in Canada

We don't have a shortage of working age people, we have a shortage of people willing to work.
You're are ever increasingly, objectively and empirically wrong.

 
There is also a need for expectation management by buyers. Everyone wants a house with a bedroom for every kid, an ensuite for the master, and a room for guests and inlaws. They want marble countertops and inground pools. And these are starter home desires.

We seems to pick on immigration as one of the issues driving up housing, but is it really? Maybe this is a stereotype, but many of those coming here better use whatever space they can afford, understanding that future generations may be able to have it better.
When a crappy 700sq ft home is hundreds of thousands of dollars it isn’t just ‘people want more than they can afford’.

The average home cost is 731k, thats a mix of everything.

We tear down the ‘starter homes’ to build bigger homes, thereby not alleviating any housing shortages. It also costs 400$ a sq ft to build now so even a average home of say 1200 sq ft will cost almost 500k and thats without any special land costs (such as being in Toronto, etc.).

Its not immigration which is causing these issues, the main cause is lack of effective housebuilding (due to increase in housing standards, cost of materials, lack of skilled tradespeople, and redevelopment of perfectly fine homes to build a bigger one). When you add immigration into a area with a lack of housing it make it worse.

Much like how the Phoenix pay system was such a dumpster fire because they kept adding departments without resolving the issues first.

The more I think about it the more I am realizing our built housing numbers are even more flawed than before.

Historically there wasn’t much tearing down and rebuilding homes on the same land because there was more land to develop on, therefore much less need to remove existing homes. Now with the land shortage many cities are facing and the tearing down/rebuilding it is skewing the numbers making it seem like we are providing more living space than we actually are.

We have less homes per capita than any other nation in the G7 and would have to build 1.8 million just to reach the average for the G7. And thats just to play catch up. Currently we are doing approximately 286k a year. With a vastly expanding population (1.08 million last year with 500k each year expected).
 
Or when they are posted to a location, and have a couple of days to figure out where they will live for the next 3-5 years... A reality many sailors have never faced.
I can certainly relate with the number of times I was transferred around the province. Moving to a new local neighbourhood is one thing but doing it across times zones adds a whole new layer of fun. I had it a little easier with most of my long distance moves because I was single, But trying to find decent housing on a couple of days visit is nuts unless you are going into a very small community which I doubt most of the CAF moves are. I assume the federal government has some kind of 'buy back' policy if you can't sell your old house, and I will also assume it sucks just as large as ours did.
 
When a crappy 700sq ft home is hundreds of thousands of dollars it isn’t just ‘people want more than they can afford’.
And that's a fair point. The land cost is so high that whether or not a new build has stone counters probably does move the needle much. However, having said that, it can be cumulative. High end everything does add up.
 
You're are ever increasingly, objectively and empirically wrong.


We have a 5% unemployment rate and businesses screaming for people. Zero excuses not to be employed.
 
5% is a very low unemployment rate. The rate will never be zero, always going to be frictional, seasonal, and structural unemployment.

Sure, but 2,000,000 people not working when we are in a labor shortage/crisis is no excuse and adding 500,000 people a year into Canada with a housing crisis will only make things worse, not better.
 
Remember the unemployment rate is only people looking for work, not the amount of people capable of working. If your 20 and aren’t seeking work your not included in the unemployment rate. That changed my view on that statistic to basically meaningless.
 
Sure, but 2,000,000 people not working when we are in a labor shortage/crisis is no excuse and adding 500,000 people a year into Canada with a housing crisis will only make things worse, not better.
That's not how it works.

Are you interested in learning about things like labour force participation and unemployment rates or is posting links a waste of time because your opinion is set?
 
That's not how it works.

Are you interested in learning about things like labour force participation and unemployment rates or is posting links a waste of time because your opinion is set?

My opinion is to limit importing people into a country that doesn't have the resources (housing) for the ones already here. Living 8 to a house in Brampton while driving the Uber is the Canadian dream.
 
And factor in a variety of trends and compare unemployment rates to job vacancy rates.

It isn’t as simple as saying we have a shortage of people wanting to work. Remember that the rate includes people actively looking for work.
 
Damn those children, elderly, and infirm Canadians. Coal mines and factories for the lot of them!
Excuse me but coal mines??? Really coal is a huge polluter....
Busy Mickey Mouse GIF by Team Tumult
 
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