National

Home builders group pushing for 30-year mortgages to boost construction in Canada

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 08 Feb, 2024 01:32 PM

The group that represents residential builders in Canada wants Ottawa to offer a 30-year amortization period for insured mortgages on new homes.

The Canadian Home Builders' Association says extending the period an additional five years would help with affordability and spur more construction.

Kevin Lee, the group's CEO, says it would bring more first-time homebuyers into the market, in turn encouraging developers to build more homes.

Kevin Lee, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, says there’s a shortage of 3.5 million additional homes needed to be built in the next decade. pic.twitter.com/AysA9FCqHS
— True North (@TrueNorthCentre) February 8, 2024

The association is also recommending setting up an investment tax credit to help the industry become more productive.

Housing expert Mike Moffatt says he likes that idea. But he says offering a longer mortgage risks boosting demand without addressing the core issues behind the shortage.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. estimates the country needs to build 5.8 million homes by 2030 to restore housing affordability.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in British Columbia, with the BC Centre for Disease Control reporting hospitalizations have increased 58 per cent in the past two weeks. The centre says in its latest update that deaths due to COVID-19 are also trending upwards, with 24 fatalities in the last week of September, compared to nine in the second week of August.

B.C. COVID-19 hospitalizations up 58% in two weeks, as infections, deaths also spike

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count

The count by the Homelessness Services Association of B-C was done on March 7th and 8th -- and identified just under five thousand people in 11 communities, up from the roughly 36-hundred identified in the March 2020 count.

Spike in Vancouver's homeless count

Surrey business community grapples with police tax

Business leaders in Surrey are pleading with the province to provide a clear plan as the city grapples with the next stage of implementing a new police force. The Surrey Board of Trade has sent a letter to Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth saying the city needs a solid policing strategy with adequate wraparound support services and infrastructure as it juggles the costs of the outgoing R-C-M-P and incoming Surrey Police Service.

Surrey business community grapples with police tax

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

British Columbia is setting out new rules as it attempts to navigate a way to curb the overdose crisis with drug decriminalization. Possession of small amounts of many illicit drugs was decriminalized in B.C. in January after the federal government issued an exemption, but legislation introduced by the province today would make their use illegal in many public spaces.

B.C. sets out law to ban use of illegal drugs in many public places

'Extremely fluid': Liberals and NDP haven't yet agreed on promised pharmacare bill

The federal New Democrats have rejected the first draft of the Liberals' pharmacare legislation, in what the health minister describes as "extremely fluid" negotiations over the highly anticipated bill. The Liberals promised to table pharmacare legislation this fall as part of the supply-and-confidence deal the government struck with the NDP.

'Extremely fluid': Liberals and NDP haven't yet agreed on promised pharmacare bill

Victoria police looking for suspects in possible arson

Police in Victoria say they're looking for two women who may have seen the suspect or suspects in a possible arson over the weekend. They say officers responded Saturday evening to reports of two fires inside a retail store, where staff used fire extinguishers to douse the initial flames.