Real Estate

Liberals looking to make home-buying more affordable for millennials:Morneau

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Liberals looking to make home-buying more affordable for millennials:Morneau

Every little bit counts.



OTTAWA - The Trudeau government wants to make home-buying more affordable for millennials, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Tuesday as he held pre-budget public events in the Toronto suburbs.

Following a speech in Aurora, Ont., Morneau made the comment when he was asked if Ottawa has any plans to help first-time buyers enter the housing market at a time of rising interest rates, which make mortgages more expensive.

Housing is expected to be a prominent campaign issue ahead of October's federal election -- and major parties have already begun to position themselves.

Real estate in Aurora, about 50 kilometres north of Toronto, has shot up in price about as quickly as it has anywhere. According to the Toronto Real Estate Board, the average price for all types of housing there was $810,000 in December. Detached homes were going for more than $918,000.

Morneau told the business audience that the Liberal government has focused on three housing-related issues since coming to office in 2015: Canada's shortage of affordable housing, a run-up in real-estate prices in some markets and ensuring millennials can afford homes.

The federal government, he said, has already tried to increase the supply of affordable housing and to cool the hottest markets -- such as Toronto and Vancouver -- by introducing stress tests that limit some people's ability to take out big mortgages.

"The middle part -- the big middle part -- is the affordable housing for millennials," said Morneau, who will release his election-year budget in the coming weeks that will also lay out Liberal platform commitments.

"That's a real challenge and there's multiple things we're looking at in order to think about how we can help in that regard."

Morneau didn't elaborate on what options are on the table.

Conservative MP Karen Vecchio argued in a statement Tuesday that Trudeau government policies, including its carbon tax, have made housing less affordable.

"Justin Trudeau's policies are making life more expensive for Canadians, pushing their dream of owning a home further and further away," Vecchio said.

On Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh proposed measures he insisted will help build 500,000 new affordable housing units across Canada over the next 10 years.

Singh only offered a few details, but said Ottawa should stop applying GST to the cost of building new affordable units, provide a subsidy to renters who spend more than 30 per cent of their incomes on housing and double a tax credit for first-time homebuyers to $1,500 from $750.
74 replies
Deal Expert
Feb 22, 2011
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Haha I don't know what they are planning but I am 100% sure it will be a train wreck and back fire completely.

I wouldn't even be surprised to see them do something crazy like NDP in BC giving interest free down payments to buyers.

NDP & Liberals are completely clueless. Just throwing everything they can at the wall hoping something wins them votes.
Deal Addict
Dec 30, 2012
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sircheersa wrote: Haha I don't know what they are planning but I am 100% sure it will be a train wreck and back fire completely.

I wouldn't even be surprised to see them do something crazy like NDP in BC giving interest free down payments to buyers.

NDP & Liberals are completely clueless. Just throwing everything they can at the wall hoping something wins them votes.
It was the BC Liberals that tossed interest free helicopter money for down payments at first-time homebuyers. The NDP axed that program upon taking office.
Deal Expert
Feb 22, 2011
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civiclease wrote: It was the BC Liberals that tossed interest free helicopter money for down payments at first-time homebuyers. The NDP axed that program upon taking office.
Ah fair enough, then it makes even more sense the federal Liberals would do something just as absurd. If they do something like this entry level housing will forever be unattainable for anyone less than upper middle dual income families.
Sr. Member
Jan 16, 2017
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more money = higher homes prices

how about getting rid of some of the crazy NIMBY by-laws from municipalities about building condos
Deal Expert
Feb 22, 2011
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reesefitzmaurice wrote: more money = higher homes prices

how about getting rid of some of the crazy NIMBY by-laws from municipalities about building condos
Why though? Say you build up a community with your neighbors and you like it. Then a bunch more people want to come and enjoy what you built. Shouldn't you have a right to say no? No one has a right to live in a certain area than the land owners currently there.
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Sep 8, 2007
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Everything they touch is a disaster so why not wreck housing too.
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Dec 13, 2016
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Why make homes more affordable for millennials only? This is ageism. Do old people not deserve to live in affordable homes?

If you're young, you can afford to live in a dump. When I was in my 20s I could care less where I lived as long as it wasn't with my mom and I could shag my gf. I seriously don't know how to put it in more simple terms to these dumb people who falsely call themselves liberals.

I'm sick and tired of this millennial crap.
Deal Fanatic
Dec 6, 2006
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cartfan123 wrote: Everything they touch is a disaster so why not wreck housing too.
They should just try to enact new policies to make housings LESS affordable.... Then things will get more affordable since whatever they do always backfired.
Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
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I have no issue with them making things a little easier for first time home buyers. They are needed to push the market forward. You can't move up without people entering the market.

Since it is the liberals, I expect them to completely screw it up.
Deal Fanatic
Nov 24, 2013
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JayLove06 wrote: I have no issue with them making things a little easier for first time home buyers. They are needed to push the market forward. You can't move up without people entering the market.

Since it is the liberals, I expect them to completely screw it up.
If they want to claim the stress test was supposed to improve affordability, they already did screw it up. It helped curb GTA & Vancouver price growth, but by making getting a mortgage (first time homebuying millennials in particular) more difficult. The stress test was probably good to curb government’s risk factors surrounding housing, but an affordability aid it was not, especially for the ~75% of Canadians not in the GTA or lower mainland.

Anything they do at this point on affordability would be to fix damage they already caused.
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Nov 10, 2015
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Morneau didn't elaborate on what options are on the table.
In other words, this is just a pre-election blurb to appeal to the millennials in hopes that they don't notice that he said nothing.
What could be of concern is what a program like this would cost the taxpayers. To some this is irrelevant.
No political content in signatures (Who did I offend?)
Banned
Dec 23, 2018
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Housing will never be affordable for people.
Rich will get richer.
Member
Jan 25, 2016
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40 year mortgages if you're under 40? 5% down payments if you're under 35? I can't wait to see what Harper-era idea they bring back.
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May 12, 2014
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alanbrenton wrote: OTTAWA - The Trudeau government wants to make home-buying more affordable for millennials,
Oh wow!

They announced that they're going to:

- eliminate/reduce regulations which prohibits home building in certain areas;

- eliminate/reduce regulations that prohibit densification;

- eliminate/reduce regulations that artificially inflate housing costs by imposing onerous licensing requirements on skilled trades;

- eliminate/reduce regulations on people renting out basement suites;

- eliminate/reduce regulations that kill Canadian competitiveness thereby making it harder for millennials to get well paid jobs;

- start standing up to "never ever" protestors and get some pipelines approved so we can get billions flowing into the Canadian economy and into workers' pockets;

I'm stunned!


Oh no, wait. They're unlikely to do any of that. Instead they'll adopt policies which are band aids in the short term and actually make the problem worse in the long term.
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leftygrove wrote: 40 year mortgages if you're under 40? 5% down payments if you're under 35? I can't wait to see what Harper-era idea they bring back.
Thirty years old and sign up for a forty year mortgage. What's wrong with that? Your mortgage will be paid off well before you're seventy if you simply sacrifice a few toys.
But there's always a chance of Trudeau 1.0 era ideas coming back. 20% mortgages.
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Deal Addict
Feb 7, 2018
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How about:

1) Axing an obscure old law that basically prohibits fixed mortgages with > 5 year terms. Would love to see USA style 30-year fixed mortgages.

2) < 5% downpayments insured by federal govt (not cmhc) until homeowner has 10% stake in equity. Then it would be rolled over to CMHC.

3) Allowing 40-year amortization periods. Why did they ever get rid of this?

4) Disbanding OFSI and thier ridiculous stress test BS that only helps the big 6 even more.

5) Opening up more greenbelt land for development.

6) Investing and building transit that is functional, reliable, and not outrageously expensive (looking at you GO Train - thank god I don’t live in GTA).
Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
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I'll never understand why they got rid of 35 and 40 year amortizations. Wouldn't help a lot with affordability?
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Apr 2, 2016
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alanbrenton wrote: Singh only offered a few details, but said Ottawa should stop applying GST to the cost of building new affordable units, provide a subsidy to renters who spend more than 30 per cent of their incomes on housing
Lol, that describes at least 75% of renters in the country. That initiative would bankrupt the government.

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