We in the government know how important it is for you to own a home, just as your parents and grandparents did. Homes are the centre of family life, and a financial foundation. But it’s time to level with you about home ownership. Canada is pivoting into a new reality where houses are too expensive in many cities for a lot of you. Sorry about that., which officially launched April 1.
It would be helpful if we gave all first-time homebuyers the option to amortize the purchase of a home over 30 years, maybe even 35. Even at today’s high, monthly payments would fall noticeably. But that way lies higher house prices. As soon as a government does anything to make buying and owning houses more affordable, people rush into the market and bid prices higher.
Taxing houses will never happen, though. A government that goes this route might as well issue an official notice saying it has no interest in re-election, or getting anything further done in its mandate. The backlash would be that bad. From the big slice of the economy accounted for by building, financing or selling houses, and from people who would legitimately feel like the only financial sure thing in their lives was being taken away.
They would say “ you will get there with patience and will”.