Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
Immigration numbers as a % of the population have basically been dead flat for the last 30 years at just over 1% of the population per year. That will likely go up in the coming years, but that hasn't had an impact on housing prices yet.
And there have been ~200K housing starts per year for the last decade, so with the average Canadian household size of 2.9 people, that should be enough housing for almost 600K additional people every year, well above the rate of population growth of 300-350K per year over the last several years.
Sale prices have gone up so fast primarily because of exceptionally low interest rates that were maintained far too long, and because people are having to compete more with investors for purchases than they did in the past. About 1/3rd of new supply in most Canadian cities is ending up in the hands of investors, and in the hottest markets its even higher (nearly 50% of the units completed in the last 5 years in BC are investor-owned).
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This is the correct answer. Immigration has had zero effect on home prices. It’s conservative fear mongering. You could reduce immigration to zero and home prices wouldn’t move one iota.
Home prices skyrocketing is due to interest rates, foreign buyers, domestic investors (both individuals and corporate), rampant fraud, and a crooked real estate industry/commission/bidding system. Even the entire system of how people apply for and are approved for mortgages is stacked against first time buyers and is set up to give huge advantages to existing owners/landlords buying rental properties.
The system is broken and it’s not gonna get any better anytime soon. I laugh when I hear people complain about homelessness and tent cities. Those numbers are gonna increase exponentially as rent and home prices rise. We’re also going to see low income housing explode.