The federal government on Thursday announced reduced immigration targets for the next three years, which some experts say will have an impact onIt’s part of a major series of changes to immigration targets that Trudeau says aims to freeze population growth.
“We’re going to go from almost 3.5 per cent population growth to effectively zero over the next two years. If they hit these targets, it’s going to have pretty wide-ranging impacts across the economy from things like rent and housing inflation to consumer spending in the next couple of years or so,” he told Global News.
“As we go through 2025, you’re going to see it pretty clearly. There are some markets where we’re already seeing downward pressure on rent as it is, like the Toronto market, for example,” he said.Kavcic said in many markets, condo and purpose rentals currently under construction will hit the market next year, in an environment with slower population growth.
“The best-case scenario would be that the Canadian government will have a chance to stop and reflect on how it’s setting housing targets for a growing and changing society. The worst-case scenario is that immigration will be seen as the magic bullet solution to housing problems,” Whitzman said.“Whether Canada accepts immigrants or not, it still has a housing supply shortage.”