Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
Seems pretty short-sighted, IMO. All that'll do is drive up demand without increasing supply, unless I'm missing something.
|
How do you figure? I think people in this thread are greatly misunderstanding how this works (or maybe I am, but I don't think so). This isn't a random free for all where the government just gives you 40% of the purchase price; it's targeted at making specific developments that aren't currently planned more viable. The idea being that it'll create marginal units that wouldn't otherwise exist by maximizing the existing capacity for housing construction.
Right now, housing starts in BC are on track to be about 4-5K lower than they were in 2023, largely because increased financing costs have slowed pre-construction sales. What this plan does is increase the buying power for 5,000 first-time homebuyers each year by having the government finance 40% of the cost, which allows them to purchase units in specific developments that were started as a result of this program.
You don't just get 40% of the cost covered by the government and then go outbid everyone else for random units. These are specific, targeted developments that are only part of this program. The government covers much of the pre-construction costs (and sometimes even the land), and then the builders can construct the units and sell them at 60% of their market value. And because of current financing rates for the government, even if the units' market value only rises with inflation, almost all of the costs of the program will be recovered when they're sold (or after 25 years) so there's little long-term cost to taxpayers (and potentially even a profit if they rise at their long-term trajectory).
The only real problem with the plan is it's too complicated. If the generally intelligent people here are confused by it, I can't imagine how confused the median voter would be. Dumbing things down is one thing conservatives are good at.