A new report says governments need to double the current pace of home construction across the country if they want to get to 2019 housing affordability levels.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says new estimates show that requires up to 480-thousand new homes being built every year for the next decade.
“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. It will also require significant innovation in construction technology and growth in labour productivity,” says Aled ab Iorwerth, Deputy Chief Economist for CMHC. “By estimating housing supply gaps across Canada, our goal is to ensure policymakers from all orders of government, as well as the private sector, understand the scale of the challenge. Systemic changes are essential if we are to double the pace of homebuilding in Canada.”
By province, the most significant housing supply gaps are in Ontario and Nova Scotia, which saw some of the fastest rising housing costs due to the pandemic.
Another is British Columbia.
As for the large cities, CHMC says Montreal has the largest housing supply gap followed by Ottawa-Gatineau.
