Policymakers should address the lack of proper housing supply, chief says
A major contributing factor to the housing affordability crisis in Canada’s largest markets is the scarcity of the appropriate residential asset classes despite boosts to supply, according to the head of the Canadian Housing Statistics Program.
“I think understanding how people start in home ownership is important,” said Jean-Philippe Deschamps-Laporte, chief of the CHSP. “Whether they’re row houses and affordable condos and affordable semis to begin with, is of relevance. And then do you have policies that allow such properties to break ground?”
For instance, in Vancouver, condo apartments saw 1,666 sales in July (up by 19% annually), according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. This significantly outpaced detached home sales, which accounted for 1,050 transactions during that month (down by 6.3% year over year).
As of July, the benchmark price for a condo in the market was $736,900 – much lower than the $1.801 million benchmark of detached housing.
Read more: What will it take to bring house prices to reasonable levels?
The Greater Vancouver region saw 4,377 new home listings in July (down by 26.4% annually), bringing the total number of active listings to 9,850 that month (down by 18.5%).
Vancouver’s overall sales-to-active listings ratio for July was 33.8%. By property type, the ratio was 25.5% for detached homes and 37.3% for condo apartments.
Deschamps-Laporte said that these trends show the condo’s important role as a “starter” property for Canadians, especially among those who have yet to establish larger families.
“I think that’s the link with policy making and urban planning,” Deschamps-Laporte said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. “If you only have a bunch of single detached and only have a bunch of one-bedroom condos, if you are missing a certain type of property that people use to work their way up, then [the data] can be of use for decision making, in my opinion.”
