What election promises on housing would mean for Toronto and the GTA
CBC
The soaring cost of home ownership is a challenge facing people across Canada, arguably nowhere more so than in big cities like Toronto.
From the 1980s through the late 2000s, the price of the average home in Toronto and the surrounding Greater Toronto Area stayed within three to five times the average annual household income.
But since 2010, that ratio has shifted dramatically. The average home now costs nearly 10 times the yearly income of the average household, based on data from the Toronto Region Real Estate Board (TRREB) and Statistics Canada.
Combine that with the fact that Toronto and the GTA account for one in six seats up for grabs nationally in the federal election and it's little wonder the main parties are trying to woo voters with promises to make housing more affordable.
Here's a look at what the Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats are proposing to do about the cost of buying a home, and some analysis from experts about what impact that would have in Toronto's real estate market.
Both Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have promised to eliminate the five per cent federal goods and services tax off the purchase of some new homes, but the promises differ.
The Liberal proposal is limited to new homes under $1 million, for first-time home buyers only. The Conservative proposal would cover a wider range of purchases: all new homes priced under $1.3 million, regardless of the buyer.
The benchmark price of a typical new condominium in the Toronto region in 2024 was $1,018,170, according to data from Altus Group and the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).
There are questions about how far either proposal would go toward making the Toronto housing market more affordable.
GST is not charged on resale home purchases, and resale accounts for roughly three-quarters of the residential real estate market in Toronto, based on resale data from TRREB and new home sales data from Altus Group and BILD over the past decade.
Steve Pomeroy, a professor at the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative at McMaster University, says the GST cuts will help stimulate some new home construction, but says the Liberal and Conservative claims that the move would save new home buyers up to $50,000 or $65,000 off their purchases are not entirely accurate.
"It's a good 10-second political sound bite," said Pomeroy in an interview. "The reality is it's not going to have that big an effect."
He says that's because developers build the sales tax into the market price of a new home.
"You negotiate with the builder for a price and let's say you agree to $700,000, which would be a relatively modest condo in Toronto," said Pomeroy. "You don't actually then add the tax on top of that. It's already absorbed in the price, because that's the price you've negotiated."
Police services across northern Ontario say most illicit drugs circulating in their communities are being transported from southern parts of the province, while prescription drugs diverted into the illegal market continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat.
The case of a child who was killed by his mother shortly after being returned from foster care has shed a rare and needed spotlight on the child welfare system, say experts in the field.
G.E. Barbour may be best known for its King Cole tea, but the Sussex company’s peanut butter is apparently what everyone wants overseas.
Seven years into an early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Sandra Demontigny's home is full of reminders.
A blizzard gusting across southern Manitoba is leaving a long list of highway and school closures.
While a blizzard threatened outside, Saskatoon city council endured an icy blast inside city hall from a Riversdale business leader over its homeless initiatives.
This is a story about fire, faith and marshmallows.
Alberta’s population bucked the trend that almost every other Canadian province and territory experienced last quarter, Statistics Canada population estimates suggest.
A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan from enforcing a 2020 order to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, ruling that pipeline safety is a federal responsibility.
When retired RCMP constable Jason Hydamacka heard the news that the insurance money for his amputated leg was coming, he sat in his truck and cried.
As Neskantaga First Nation’s youngest band councillor, Lashaunda Waswa says she wants to inspire the next generation to protect the community’s land, water and wildlife.
Toronto has seen a drop in crime rates across the city, but its police chief says youth crime rates continue to be a cause for concern.
Cambridge council has voted to request a pedestrian safety review of Cedar Street from the region after two back-to-back collisions last week, one of which killed a three-year-old girl.