this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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I still think the easiest way to solve the lack of housing issues would be to charge an override premium interest level for second homes and investment homes.
Make it unprofitable for landlords to carry the costs, and voila, more homes on the market.
That, or reverse the taxability of interest on homes. Primary residence? Interest is deductible against earned income. Investment property? No tax breaks on interest paid, only capital improvements. This would also be a huge cost-of-living improvement for lower and middle classes.
Would make for a lot of unhappy boomers with multiple rental properties, but honestly fuck em, they've had a good enough ride already.
You can't solve a shortage of houses by discouraging people from building them. Canada is simply not building enough housing and has not been doing so for a long time. Your proposal would have a marginal effect at best and would in any case be only a temporary solution. People who buy second homes do so in places where there are generally few jobs. And people who buy houses as an investment need to rent them .. which is not necessarily a bad thing. The problem we have is that home prices have risen to such stratospheric heights primarily because of policies that discourage new development. The only way to fix that is to promote legislation that penalizes NIMBYism and encourages building in urban areas.
According to CMHC, housing starts have been relatively flat since the 70s. The population has not been.