4 ms·

I think the root cause is supply, demand, the salaries of buyers, interest rates and multiple of salary for mortgages permitted by law.

katbyte 5y ago
which are all influenced at every level by the desire (need?) to keep housing prices high and increasing..
slg 5y ago
Those are downstream effects of the problem with housing being an investment. We don't want prices to go down so we don't build enough supply. The policies that make housing a good investment increase demand from speculators and investors above the natural need for housing. There are all sorts of subsidies that exist to give people more money to buy housing instead of trying to make housing actually cheaper. Interest rates are a lever the government uses to support its political goals which includes increasing housing values. It all comes back to the same root cause.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  Where are you building these houses in the protected Oak Ridges Moran? Building requires space to begin with.
  - slg 5y ago
    Canada, famously a country with no free space. Even if the problem was a lack of space, building denser is always an option and none of the big Canadian cities are really overflowing due to population density.
    - JacobThreeThree 5y ago
      You kid, but 90% of land in Canada is crown land. Nobody is allowed to own it.
      - slg 5y ago
        Which would still leave more land than exists in France, Germany, UK, Italy, Japan, and numerous other countries with larger populations.
- bennysomething 5y ago
  I doubt there is a conspiracy to stop house building, there's just planning laws that prevent and slow down development. The public want to two contradictory things, homes their children can afford and banning anything that could reduce their house price. Hence politicians look for scape goats like foreign Investors. Two conservative governments in the uk have tried to simplify planning law , and failed. We try all sorts of hacks like "affordable housing" legislation. The fact is, we make it hard to build where demand is greatest.

katbyte 5y ago

which are all influenced at every level by the desire (need?) to keep housing prices high and increasing..

slg 5y ago

Those are downstream effects of the problem with housing being an investment. We don't want prices to go down so we don't build enough supply. The policies that make housing a good investment increase demand from speculators and investors above the natural need for housing. There are all sorts of subsidies that exist to give people more money to buy housing instead of trying to make housing actually cheaper. Interest rates are a lever the government uses to support its political goals which includes increasing housing values. It all comes back to the same root cause.

ipaddr 5y ago
Where are you building these houses in the protected Oak Ridges Moran? Building requires space to begin with.
- slg 5y ago
  Canada, famously a country with no free space. Even if the problem was a lack of space, building denser is always an option and none of the big Canadian cities are really overflowing due to population density.
  - JacobThreeThree 5y ago
    You kid, but 90% of land in Canada is crown land. Nobody is allowed to own it.
    - slg 5y ago
      Which would still leave more land than exists in France, Germany, UK, Italy, Japan, and numerous other countries with larger populations.
bennysomething 5y ago
I doubt there is a conspiracy to stop house building, there's just planning laws that prevent and slow down development. The public want to two contradictory things, homes their children can afford and banning anything that could reduce their house price. Hence politicians look for scape goats like foreign Investors. Two conservative governments in the uk have tried to simplify planning law , and failed. We try all sorts of hacks like "affordable housing" legislation. The fact is, we make it hard to build where demand is greatest.