by hometoronto“Housing Prices Should Not Fall in Canada”, the new Minister of Housing in Canada, Gregor Robertson said, “Higher housing supply, not lowering home prices, is the solution for Canada’s housing crisis”. He said, “It (Housing) is a huge part of our economy”, Robertson told reporters, “But we need to be delivering more affordable housing”.
Robertson said his work as housing minister will focus on building up supply of affordable housing and make sure the market is stable in Canada. As a matter of fact, his words are just confusing and contradicting. Experts said that Robertson is dead wrong.
Experts said that Robertson’s comments on maintaining price of homes are politically and mathematically off-base. “We seem to want a housing market where sellers get high prices and buyers pay low prices, and that is just not nature of mathematics,” housing expert Mike Moffatt said. Experts agreed that Ottawa has to allow home prices to fall to make housing more affordable. Concordia University economist Moshe Lander agrees with Moffatt that home prices must come down if the government hopes to see broad affordability restored to the market over the next generation.
If Robertson thinks that increasing supply is the solution for Canada’s housing crisis, why thousands of vaccant condos and home listings cannot solve the housing crisis? It is very simple. It is because home prices are so high that nobody can afford it. That is why nobody buys and the housing crisis continues.
Today’s sky high home prices are man-made due to the impotence of Canadian politicians who failed to manage interest rates and foresee the negative impacts of unaffordable housing to our economy. High home prices also means a huge mortgage for home buyers. With the new Canadian mortgage rules in December 2024, Canadians may qualify for a 30-year mortgage.
Does a 30-year mortgage really make homes more affordable?
I think that only idiots will believe it. Let us find out.
For a $800,000 mortgage at a 3% interest rate over 25 years, the monthly payment would be approximately $3,526.68. The total interest paid over the 25-year term would be around $257,992.32.
For the same mortgage package over a 30 year term, the monthly payment would be approximately $3,360.40 and the total interests would be around $409,744.80. The difference in interest paid is $151,752. That is a lot of money for a regular family but now you know the truth.
Robertson thinks that a home is the most valuable asset for homeowners, an asset many use to fund retirements. However, it is a very selfish idea. While it is challenging to definitively say if Canada’s senior benefits are “the best in the world,” they are generally considered strong and rank highly compared to other developed countries. With CPP, OAS and GIS, this combination helps ensure a reasonable standard of living for most seniors.
What is more important than our younger generation?
The younger generation is the future of Canada. How can we abandon them? We have an obligation to help them to have a decent life so that they do not have to worry how to pay rent and put food on the table for the family and are able to focus on contributing to the country. Believe it or not, better economy will definitely boost birth rate. Do you know that aging population is a serious problem in Canada?
If most people are struggling with the basic living needs, then people will stop spending. It will cause more shops to close. Violence crimes, drug abuse, mental problem and number of homeless people will jump. As of June 2025, the average price for a home in Toronto is approximately $1,163,460. With a 30-year term 1 million mortgage on your shoulder, most home owners will be still paying for their mortgage after retirement. Is it what we want?
Why has home price gone up more than 400% in the last 30 years?
Today’s sky high home prices are man-made due to the impotence of politicians who failed to manage interest rates and foresee the impacts of unaffordable housing to our economy. Between 2007 and 2010, the Canadian Central Bank dropped interest rate from over 4% to just 0.25%. It made borrowing cost very cheap. Canadians and investors started to invest in properties and home prices started to jump.
Home prices became all time high in 2022 due to the massive increase of immigrants. In 2023, Canada brought in 1.2 million immigrants and another 0.5 million in 2024. It caused a huge housing shortage and further made housing crisis more serious.
For all home purchasing in Canada, about 30% deals are made by landlords and investors. High home prices are cash cows for them who keep pushing home prices up. The impotent Canadian policy makers allow these greedy investors make their gains out of other people’s pain and cause more homeless people on the streets. It is not ethical and it must be stopped.
What is the forecast of the Canadian economy?
Today, Canadian household debt is the highest among all G7 countries. Business closures are happening everywhere in Canada. Unemployment is climbing. Homeless people and first-time food bank visitors have sharply increased. With the advance of AI technology, thousands of jobs will be eliminated in the near future. Frankly, our future economy is very grim.
With the new Canadian mortgage rules in December 2024, home buyers are qualified for a longer 30-year term mortgage. The new policy did not make housing more affordable. Actually, it makes housing even more expensive.
Imagine this, with 30-year term, one million dollar mortgage on your shoulder, most Canadians will squeeze every penny to buy food and pay rent or mortgage. People will stop spending and it will cause more shops to close. Many Canadians will have to work even after age 65. Is this what we want?
What is the solution to make home affordable again?
Very simple. We should quickly build more prefab homes across Canada, but why?
Prefab homes come in three main catergories: manufactured, kit and modular. Prefab home especially modular homes are just like regular homes. As a matter of fact, prefab homes are better than regular homes in many aspects including faster construction times, cost savings, and increased energy efficiency.
Prefab homes are built in a factory setting, which allows for better quality control, reduced waste, no moulding, and streamlined production processes. This translates to lower labor costs, reduced material waste, and potentially lower overall construction costs compared to traditional, site-built homes.
Single modular homes can be very luxurious just like regular detached homes but with a much lower price tag. With the advance in construction technologies, prefab homes are the future of affordable housing. Building modular homes also means more job opportunities.
Housing crisis is one of the top priorities which the Canadian government must resolve. However, it is quite clear that the Canadian government has no clue on how to make housing affordable again.
Robertson was Vancouver’s mayor between 2008 and 2018. During that time, data from the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation shows the average price of single-family and semi-detached homes rose 179 per cent across the broader Metro Vancouver area and homelessness rose by 38%.
Robertson argued that many cities across Canada saw similar surges in home prices during that period. However, I would say it is because of the impotence of our government who lacks the ability to foresee the negative impacts to the Canadian economy due to high home prices. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 had said prices need to stop rising. However, in 2014, Trudeau had also said housing needs to retain its value.
If the Canadian government fails and has no intention to fix the problems they have created, if the government is here to support homeowners and greedy investors for more votes from them but treat renters as second-class citizens, if the government is not here to represent the majority of Canadians who urgently need affordable housing, why should we still paying our hard earned tax dollars to feed these idiots who only care about themselves and the wealthy ones?
Our economy will be better only if housing becomes affordable again. The Canadian government has to allow home prices to fall to make housing more affordable. Cheaper and better modular homes are the solution to our housing crisis. For the sake of the Canadian economy and our younger generation, it is time to change. We have an obligation to push the Canadian government to build more modular homes across Canada to resolve the housing crisis.
