Current Insights
A housing budget on a shaky foundation
Canada puts more people in each house compared to G7 countries Any builder knows that building a good home must start with a solid foundation. The same is true for good housing policy. Budget 2022 has been tagged as a housing budget, with emphasis on addressing what...
Housing Accelerator Fund – not such a new idea
In discussing the CMHC call for ideas for the recently proposed $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), former CMHC/MSUA policy director David Crenna reminded me that this was much like something implemented back in the 1970's, under the title Federal Housing...
Three part blog series examining evidence and factors causing excessive home price increases
This is posted on the McMaster university, Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC) site here The series first examines evidence that lack of supply is driving prices; part 2 examines and describes the phenomenon of "supercharged" demand; and part 3 then...
CMHC 2020 survey provides new insight into rental arrears
For the first time, in 2020 CMHC added questions to its annual October Rental Market Survey to explore the level of rent arrears, a concern heightened by the COVID pandemic. This new data source reveals a wide range of arrears rates with Windsor recording the highest...
The perverse math of homeless investment
Issue: In late September, CMHC announced a new Rapid Housing Initiative to create 3,000 spaces for homeless persons. This funds new modular construction and acquisition-conversion of non-residential property; but it does not encompass acquisition of existing moderate...