Cost of housing in Canada

[Eaglelord17]

Depends on the immigrants. Some are willing to live with a couple of generations or a couple of families in one house. For them, that effectively cuts the cost per family. Some are willing to pool funds across established families in order to assist new ones. Some are willing to have the teenagers work and kick in a little to the family income.

At the margins, one or more of those advantages is decisive for some of them. It's not just immigrants, either. These are habits available to anyone. The most powerful habit is the one in which the whole gang kicks in to buy a house outright without any financing. Imagine how much money that saves; even being called upon to pay it forward to the next few to set up housekeeping is much cheaper.

You save the cost of a house if you do it without financing. Your average 25 year mortgage doubles the cost of the home if you just make the minimum payments.

I remember I had some guys at work complain about how some of the immigrants in town had much nicer cars than them. I just told them thry could have the same if they lived with 8 to a average home like they do. Its all about what your willing to put up with.

 

[FSTO]

You save the cost of a house if you do it without financing. Your average 25 year mortgage doubles the cost of the home if you just make the minimum payments.

I remember I had some guys at work complain about how some of the immigrants in town had much nicer cars than them. I just told them thry could have the same if they lived with 8 to an average home like they do. Its all about what your willing to put up with.

Heck, my older brother and shared the same room until I was 17. That is unheard of today.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Heck, my older brother and shared the same room until I was 17. That is unheard of today.

Childrens Aid arseholes would be calling....

 

[Quirky]

.

I remember I had some guys at work complain about how some of the immigrants in town had much nicer cars than them. I just told them thry could have the same if they lived with 8 to a average home like they do. Its all about what your willing to put up with.

Or alternatively, they use all their income to stretch payments on the nicest cars they can get their hands on. Some people view cars as an identity while others as transportation. I can easily qualify for a new corvette every three years, doesn’t mean I want to.

Remember, Canadians carry massive household debt.

 

[YZT580]

Heck, my older brother and shared the same room until I was 17. That is unheard of today.

drive through the older section of any town in Canada and you will find that the average sq. ftg. is about 1200. that was for a family of 4 or more. Your own room was a luxury and only lasted until the next baby arrived. Those homes are being torn down and replaced by 2000 sq. ft. plus that extend from lot line to lot line: no yards for the kids to play and no place for the BBQ. Greed has taken the place of common sense and the next generation will pay for it big time

 

[Eaglelord17]

drive through the older section of any town in Canada and you will find that the average sq. ftg. is about 1200. that was for a family of 4 or more. Your own room was a luxury and only lasted until the next baby arrived. Those homes are being torn down and replaced by 2000 sq. ft. plus that extend from lot line to lot line: no yards for the kids to play and no place for the BBQ. Greed has taken the place of common sense and the next generation will pay for it big time

That type of building should not be approved at the moment. We need more houses, not demolishing serviceable houses to replace with a bigger home which will occupy the same amount of people.

Just another way we are hurting ourselves in this housing crisis.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I know a lot of immigrants who pull 16 hour shifts as well and try to cram studying into that.

 

[YZT580]

That type of building should not be approved at the moment. We need more houses, not demolishing serviceable houses to replace with a bigger home which will occupy the same amount of people.

Just another way we are hurting ourselves in this housing crisis.

not only allowed, but encouraged. Taking a house assessed at 650, replacing it with one assessed at 1.3 mil. doubles the property taxes

 

[lenaitch]

not only allowed, but encouraged. Taking a house assessed at 650, replacing it with one assessed at 1.3 mil. doubles the property taxes

There are those who advocate taxing detached SFHs at a higher rate than multiple structures like apartments and condos.

 

[OldSolduer]

There are those who advocate taxing detached SFHs at a higher rate than multiple structures like apartments and condos.

The typical way of solving a problem in Canada - tax it to death.

 

[Eaglelord17]

The typical way of solving a problem in Canada - tax it to death.

Exactly this way they can pretend they are doing something well they are lining their pockets.

 

[YZT580]

There are those who advocate taxing detached SFHs at a higher rate than multiple structures like apartments and condos.

perfect solution. Then I can guarantee that only MY children and those of MY class can afford it whilst the working stiff gets ghettoized. Jane and Finch on a national level

 

[Good2Golf]

Jane and Finch on a national level

You mean ‘Red?’

 

[brihard]

drive through the older section of any town in Canada and you will find that the average sq. ftg. is about 1200. that was for a family of 4 or more. Your own room was a luxury and only lasted until the next baby arrived. Those homes are being torn down and replaced by 2000 sq. ft. plus that extend from lot line to lot line: no yards for the kids to play and no place for the BBQ. Greed has taken the place of common sense and the next generation will pay for it big time

My wife grew up in suburban metro Vancouver, one of the bedroom cities of the Lower Mainland. Nicer neighbourhood, older houses. Since she left about a decade ago we’ve returned regularly for visits, and have seen this playing out in the streets where she grew up. Modest homes from the 1960s, on pretty sizeable lots- the kind of lot you just can’t get for a new build anymore. These older homes are selling for 1.5-1.8 million. At any given moment, on any block there’s probably a house in the process of being torn down and replaced. The new houses are massive, very nice looking, and are often designed with separate suits to house relatively large multigenerational families.

She moved out east with me; most of her friends are still out there. The dream, for them, of owning a detached single family home like they grew up in is dead unless they inherit one. The ones who have done well in terms of jobs / romantic partnerships with a professional are living in nice two or three bedroom condos, or moving really far out of Vancouver to afford a townhouse.

We live in a newly built house in Ottawa, built within the past decade. Our neighbourhood’s been growing for about 15 years. Even in that time lots have shrunk a bit, and houses are filling more and more of the lot. Proportionately more of the neighbourhood is now being built as townhouses and more low rise condos are going in closer to the main road… I think this description could fit literally any growing neighbourhood in Ottawa right now. The detached houses are big- much bigger than anything I lived in growing up. Prices have skyrocketed too, since 2016- those of us who got in before they did are laughing, but at the same time we’re now just another city that’s pricing young adults out of single family home ownership.

Long term, something’s gotta give. A house is only worth what someone will pay, and eventually there’s gonna have to be downwards pressure on prices for the simple reason that there just isn’t enough demand from people with enough money, even with foreign capital flight being laundered through our housing market. I don’t know what that will look like. I do know that even we could not afford to buy the same house now that we did a few years ago, and we’re in a better position that most. I think this shattered dream of home ownership is going to be a potent political force for whoever can properly grab it.

 

[Eaglelord17]

The collapse is coming slowly, as people renew their mortgages over the next 5 years they will not be able to afford their homes.

40-50% payment increases when your already basically maxed out = defaulting.

Investors are also looking at getting out as the numbers don’t make sense, you can’t rent a condo to break even let alone make a profit. The only hope is to sell at a high which is a fickle investment strategy.

The bubble will burst eventually and when it does there is going to be a whole lot of hurt to go around.

 

[brihard]

The collapse is coming slowly, as people renew their mortgages over the next 5 years they will not be able to afford their homes.

40-50% payment increases when your already basically maxed out = defaulting.

Investors are also looking at getting out as the numbers don’t make sense, you can’t rent a condo to break even let alone make a profit. The only hope is to sell at a high which is a fickle investment strategy.

The bubble will burst eventually and when it does there is going to be a whole lot of hurt to go around.

That’s another thing too, yeah. A few years ago after a financial windfall we looked at buying a condo as an income property. After running the numbers a few times, even before interest rates jumped, there just wasn’t enough spread between rental income versus all expenses. From a strict investment standpoint the opportunity cost of tying up capital that way just didn’t make much sense. Big picture, that’s not a bad thing for those who need housing. Income properties are properties not available as starter owns. Hopefully investors shifting out of income properties opens up more supply for first time owners, or downsizers.

 

[Brad Sallows]

These older homes are selling for 1.5-1.8 million. At any given moment, on any block there’s probably a house in the process of being torn down and replaced.

Has been going on for over 30 years (eg. Burnaby). Definitely not new. Original 100 ft lots were several decades ago divided into 50s, and in past fewer decades, 33s (eg. buy 2 x 50s side-by-side and divide into 3).

People want what they want. No amount of nudging is going to shift people; it's just going to piss them off.

As long as governments find ways to push individual transfers to people in one form or another (eg. lower taxes, new benefits), at the margins there will people who move from "just barely can't afford" to "competitive buyer". As long as there are people cheering those governments on and voting for them, the problem will persist. There are also lots of people with high incomes and already paid-for homes happy to invest in real estate.

Currently observing gradual redevelopment of former acreages and pastures into townhouses, 6-story units, and highrises. Very evident increase in traffic. People willing to put up with that are welcome to it.

 

[Quirky]

The collapse is coming slowly, as people renew their mortgages over the next 5 years they will not be able to afford their homes.

40-50% payment increases when your already basically maxed out = defaulting.

Banks are already lending out 70-90 year mortgages.

Some Canadian mortgage holders extending amortization periods by more than double: Expert - BNN Bloomberg

As Canadians continue to deal with higher borrowing costs, one mortgage expert said some homeowners have been extending their amortization periods to more than double the typical 25 years.

www.bnnbloomberg.ca

“I’ve had many clients with amortizations, that are 70, 80, even 90 years remaining, in the extreme cases, and that's simply because their payments are not going towards any principle at all,” he said.

“It's mainly because the payments are strictly just paying interest to the bank, they're not paying down any of the principal payment at all.”

Many MPs have rental properties in major cities, so I doubt they'll allow a crash. The housing minister just bought another rental property in Ottawa.

Canada’s housing minister quietly buys another rental property

In housing minister Ahmed Hussen’s disclosure statements, he is now listed as the owner of two rental properties in Ottawa: one on Quest Private and another on Kijik Crescent. He appears to have acquired the second property on March 23, 2023, and has two mortgages with CIBC.

tnc.news

The housing ministers job is to provide housing to Canadians, not a very good job he is doing...

 

[Kilted]

So tenement housing is the answer.

 

[OldSolduer]

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