Latest news with #affordability
CTV News
7 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Renters struggling to stay above water
Winnipeg Watch Maralee talks with Michael Froese about why renters are still struggling even as the cost of rent drops.
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
32,000 more homes needed annually in Toronto to return to pre-pandemic rates: CMHC report
Construction is shown at the site of a new condominium project in downtown Toronto, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Toronto will need to build nearly 32,000 extra homes per year for the next decade for housing costs to dip back down to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released new estimates on Canada's housing supply gaps on Thursday, showing that a return to housing affordability levels last seen in 2019 will require between 430,000 and 480,000 new housing units be built annually across the country until 2035—an approximate doubling of the current pace of construction. The report says that if home building of both ownership and rental type properties continues at a 'business as usual' pace, Toronto will see an average of 44,000 housing starts annually. However, to reach prices seen in 2019, those housing starts will need to increase by nearly 70 per cent—or 31,511 units—to reach 75,565 annual starts. Of the approximate 32,000 units, the CMHC report says more than 26,000 should be additional ownership starts, nearly 4,000 should be primary market rentals, and more than 1,100 in the secondary rental market. The report adds that despite increased rental construction in recent years, the region is lacking homeownership options that match local incomes. CMHC says home prices in Toronto grew by 6.7 per cent between 2019 and 2024, while rental costs jumped 4.8 per cent in the same period. They add that home prices will continue to climb with increases as high as 62 per cent in 2035 if there is no action to increase supply. That change in price drops to nearly 20 per cent with additional supply. As for the rest of Ontario outside of Toronto and the Ottawa-Gatineau region, the report says over 86,000 additional housing starts are needed annually to reach a total of 124,795 new builds every year for the next 10 years.
Bloomberg
15 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Canada Slashes Forecast for Making Housing More Affordable
Doubling the pace of homebuilding in Canada will only bring affordability back to levels seen right before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new government report that lowers expectations for the impact of construction on housing costs. The country must boost building to as much as 480,000 housing units a year by 2035 just to bring affordability back to where it was in 2019, the report from the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said Thursday. The current rate of homebuilding is about 250,000 units, the agency said.
CTV News
16 hours ago
- Business
- CTV News
Home construction must double over next decade to restore 2019 affordability: CMHC
Cranes are seen above a condo development and other housing projects under construction, in Coquitlam, B.C., on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says up to 4.8 million new homes will need to be built over the next decade to restore affordability levels last seen in 2019 based on projected demand. The national housing agency released its latest supply gaps estimate report on Thursday, which said between 430,000 and 480,000 new housing units are needed per year across the ownership and rental markets by 2035. That would represent around double the current pace of home construction in Canada. A total of 90,760 housing starts have been recorded so far this year through May, and CMHC projects an average of 245,000 starts annually over the next 10 years under current conditions. 'Doubling the pace of housing construction in Canada is achievable, but not without a significantly larger and modernized workforce, more private investment, less regulation, fewer delays, and lower development costs,' said CMHC deputy chief economist Aled ab Iorwerth in a press release. 'It will also require significant innovation in construction technology and growth in labour productivity.' In 2023, the agency estimated Canada would need to build an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, on top of 2.3 million that were already projected to be built by that year, to reach affordability levels seen in 2004. In its latest report, CMHC said that timeline 'is no longer realistic,' especially after the post-pandemic price surge seen across the housing market. 'COVID-19 significantly changed the affordability landscape across the country,' the report said. 'As a result, we're changing our aspiration to restoring affordability to levels seen just before the pandemic. This change also highlights how widespread the housing affordability challenge has become across Canada.' The agency defines affordability as the amount of income that goes toward housing. In general, it aims to return to levels of affordability at which adjusted house prices are no higher than 30 per cent of average gross household income. But that ratio is projected to reach 52.7 per cent by 2035 in a 'business-as-usual' scenario, up from 40.3 per cent in 2019. Doubling projected housing starts over the next decade would bring the figure down to 41.1 per cent of income being allocated for homebuying nationally, according to the agency. During the federal election campaign, the Liberals promised to double the rate of residential construction over the next decade to reach 500,000 homes per year. The plan emphasized scaling up prefabricated housing construction. It said a new entity called Build Canada Homes would provide $25 billion in debt financing and $1 billion in equity financing to prefabricated homebuilders to reduce construction times by up to 50 per cent. Returning to 2019 affordability levels in the next decade would lead to house prices being roughly one-quarter lower than where they would otherwise be in 2035, the CMHC's report added. Average rents would also be about five per cent lower. The report included regional breakdowns, which show Ontario, Nova Scotia and B.C. have the most significant housing supply gaps by province. Montreal faces the largest gap of any major city, where home ownership costs have also risen faster than other regions in recent years, followed by Ottawa, where CMHC said new supply has not kept pace with increased housing demand. In Toronto, despite increased rental construction in recent years, the region is lacking home ownership options that match local incomes, and CMHC estimated a 70 per cent increase in homebuilding over the next decade would help to improve affordability issues. For Vancouver, it said an estimated 7,200 additional homes are needed annually above the 'business-as-usual' scenario, an increase of 29 per cent. It estimated Calgary, which has seen record levels of home construction for three straight years, will need 45 per cent more new homes annually. Meanwhile, no additional supply is required beyond what is currently projected in Edmonton, as sufficient market housing is expected to be built in the region to maintain affordability by 2035. --- Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025.
CBC
17 hours ago
- Business
- CBC
4.8M new homes need to be built over next 10 years to restore affordability, CMHC says
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says up to 4.8 million new homes will need to be built over the next decade to restore affordability levels last seen in 2019, based on projected demand. The national housing agency released its latest supply gaps estimate report today, which says between 430,000 and 480,000 new housing units are needed per year across the ownership and rental markets by 2035. That would represent around double the current pace of home construction in Canada, with 90,760 housing starts recorded so far this year, through May. CMHC deputy chief economist Aled ab Iorwerth says doubling the pace of housing construction is achievable, "but not without a significantly larger and modernized workforce, more private investment, less regulation, fewer delays and lower development costs." In 2023, CMHC estimated Canada would need to build an additional 3.5 million housing units by 2030, on top of 2.3 million that were already projected to be built by that year, to reach affordability levels seen in 2004. The agency's latest update also includes regional breakdowns, which show Ontario and Nova Scotia have the most significant housing supply gaps by province, while Montreal faces the largest gap of any major city.
