The Liberal government promised a suite of new measures to help Canadians buy a home when a red-hot housing market has made owing proper difficult for many young people.
Trudeau, the Liberal leader, said that the real estate market is afflicted by “instability” and “uncertainty,” and this COVID situation has led to soaring prices, rampant speculation, bidding wars, and many vacant properties. In order to help more people acquire their own homes, it needs government intervention.
The aggressive plan includes:
- Billions of dollars in new funding.
- Efforts to block foreign nationals from buying homes for two years.
- Measures to reduce the practices of flipping homes.
- New regulatory measures for exploitative real estate agents.
A three-point program also includes a commitment to “unlock home ownership” with new government funding. The plan is to build new homes to address supply constraints and some measures to be taken to protect buyers’ rights.
Trudeau said that “if you work hard, if you save that dream of having your own house, you should be rich, but for too many people, it isn’t – and that’s not right.”
In 2018, the same program was proposed by former mayoral candidate Jennifer keesmaat. As every plan has its own pros and cons, while some people are happy with this proposal, there are others who are struggling with a down payment. Some say that it carters to a niche group of constituents, and all parties need to focus on housing supply to make a city like Toronto more affordable.
The plan will make housing more affordable by –
- Helping the renters become the owners with a new Rent-to-Own program and helping them afford down payments faster.
- It also introduces a Tax-Free First Home Savings Account that helps Canadians under the age of 40 save up to $40,000 towards their first home.
- By building, preserving, and repairing 1.4 million homes in 4 years which will help in increasing supply and making more homes available across Canada while creating jobs.
- It has also introduced a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights to help them buy homes in a more fair way, including banning blind bidding, for home inspection establishing a legal right, and banning new foreign ownership for two years.
- Raising 3% taxes on financial institutions and also establishing Canada Recovery Dividend which will help to contribute to Canada’s recovery.