House Affordibility in Canada

REDCanada is focused on creating awareness for Housing Affordability and we will bring issues into the spotlight through Lobbying, Consumer Awareness and New Legislative Proposals. Our organization will reach out to the Federal Government, Provincial and Local Municipalities, and Real Estate jurisdictions on housing and affordability matters.

Why Canada’s Real Estate Market Crisis is an Everyone Issue
There are a handful of things in life that human beings tend to agree on as basic necessities and rights for all. They include things like clean water, enough food to sustain us, safety, and shelter.
For many though here in Canada and beyond, shelter – housing – is rapidly moving from the category of “right” to “privilege” and we at REDCanada exist to ensure that affordable, safe, inclusive housing never reaches the category of “privilege”, but stays as it should. A basic human right.
The real estate market crisis can feel far away at times for those of us fortunate enough to own a home, or for those of us living in areas that haven’t experienced the incredible pricing increase – and supply shortage – that millions of others are facing. We’re housed, thus, the crisis does not impact us. Until it does.
Until we go to our favourite restaurant and face an extended wait period because servers simply cannot afford to work the job and live within an hour of the restaurant. Or until we enroll our children in school only to see on the news that the educators are planning a strike to fight for a living wage. Or until we see a tragic increase in the homeless populations – especially homeless families – whose rent was raised one too many times, and they have nowhere else to go.

The current crisis can be attributed to a perfect storm of factors.
Interest rates continue to remain at historic lows (.25%), making money incredibly easy to borrow – which makes the property easier to purchase – especially for wealthy buyers like investors or developers. This creates an inventory shortage all around, that is most harmful to homeowners and renters looking for their first home, or for a reasonably priced space to rent. In addition, continuing to contribute to the current housing affordability crisis is the fact that mortgage down payment requirements are also incredibly low, which makes it even easier for those in the position to do so to purchase property quickly.

Two of the final biggest contributors to the current real estate market are timely housing development issues due to varying regulations across provinces and municipalities and a concerningly low rate of transparency within the market. This transparency issue means that rules & regulations do not exist within the sector to provide a sense of clarity for all involved parties, and it also means that potential buyers do not have appropriate access to easy-to-understand data regarding the market. That’s where we come in.

At REDCanada, our goal has always been and will continue to serve as an advocate and resource for Canadian homebuyers.
Through working alongside real estate agents and developers, governmental and regulatory bodies, and by using both our industry expertise and passion for the cause, we promise to continue to help lead the way, ensuring that all Canadians are safely and comfortably housed – after all, it is their right.