Affordable Housing Options

[erinmore3775]

^^^^^^

Anyone who has followed provincial or federal politics over the past five years will be aware that this type of “corruption” is going on at all levels of “government contract letting or Requests for Proposals.” It is just a reflection of the “costs for politics” these days. Just look at “donations” to municipal councillor campaigns, or political party’s. Money buys influence.

[BC Landlord]

I said 67%, which is close to 70% for the purpose of this discussion, contrary to "only 2% can afford it" claims. How is that an exaggerated statement, DoDo?

1. The statistics Canada number of 67-70% includes anyone renting a basement suite as a homeowner. It includes adult children living at home as homeowners. It includes people renting carridge houses as homeowners.
.........
Therefore, if you do not factor in the GENETIC LOTTERY of getting a Mommy and Daddy loan and a bottle for bedtime, only around 2% of Canadian workers can be approved for a loan for the averaged price house.

Mazda, nothing has changed in the methodology of generating these statistics. So, whatever that number (i.e. 67-70%) meant years or decades ago, it means the same thing today.

Secondly, parents helping their kids into homeownership has also been around for ages. And just calling it some fancy, newly minted phrases (i.e. "genetic lottery") may sound interesting or even smart, but at its core it's lame and won't advance any argument. Only people who have no real arguments resort to such a terminology crutch.

[ash71]

This is an excellent article summarizing homeownership statistics in Canada.https://madeinca.ca/homeownership-statistics-canada/

• Between the two Canadian censuses of 2016 and 2021, the portion of Canadians living in owner-occupied homes fell from 69% to 66.5%.

• The homeownership rate of 66.5% from the latest census is the lowest since 2002.

• Baby Boomers are the biggest homeowner age group, accounting for over 40% of all homeowners in Canada.

• Just under 60% of new homes were owner-occupied in 2021.

• Approximately 35.5% of Canadian homeowners have a mortgage in 2024.

• The value of owner-occupied homes grew by almost 40% between 2016 and 2021.

• House prices were up by 2.2% from the previous year in September 2024.

• Couples, high-income earners, established immigrants, and university graduates are more likely to own their homes in Canada.

almost 70% of nowadays Canadians are homeowners,

This statement is extremely misleading. The wording implies that 70% of 40 million Canadians are homeowners... that 28 million Canadians are homeowners. But the actual statistic is that 66.5% of Canadians live in owner-occupied homes. So, according to BCL, if someone rents out 5 rooms in their home, then 6 people are "homeowners"...obviously this is not the case. Semantics matter.

[DoDo1975]

*removed*

[BC Landlord]

This statement is extremely misleading. The wording implies that 70% of 40 million Canadians are homeowners... that 28 million Canadians are homeowners. But the actual statistic is that 66.5% of Canadians live in owner-occupied homes. So, according to BCL, if someone rents out 5 rooms in their home, then 6 people are "homeowners"...obviously this is not the case. Semantics matter.

Ash, I can understand why some people want to make things look worse than they actually are, but making stuff up and exaggerating won't help.

FYI, homeownership percentage is not calculated that way. It goes by the percentage of households. So roughly, 67% are homeowners, whereas the remainder of 33% are renters. And no renter counts as a "homeowner", whether the homeowner lives on the rental premises, or not.

[DoDo1975]

Only people who have no real arguments resort to such a terminology crutch.

Agreed. Some seem to be using the same tactic and mischaracterizing affordability as a personal issue and refusing to acknowledge the concept as universally understood by banks, economists, governments and even real estate organizations?

[BC Landlord]

Agreed. Some seem to be using the same tactic and mischaracterizing affordability as a personal issue and refusing to acknowledge the concept as universally understood by banks, economists, governments and even real estate organizations?

Fine, then go to your bank and ask them to give you a "universal" mortgage, without questioning your personal income.

[DoDo1975]

Agreed. Some seem to be using the same tactic and mischaracterizing affordability as a personal issue and refusing to acknowledge the concept as universally understood by banks, economists, governments and even real estate organizations?

Fine, then go to your bank and ask them to give you a "universal" mortgage, without questioning your income.

I am sure if I had some need to assess some need for a single property they might be interested in my income. However, the discussion around affordability has nothing to with single properties or the specific people trying to buy them.

Affordability is important and interesting when looking at the aggregate. I understand that thinking past a single persons ability to pay for a property might be beyond the intellectual capabilities of certain members of the population, but I can't do anything about that.

[Mazdatruck]

nothing has changed in the methodology of generating these statistics. So, whatever that number (i.e. 67-70%) meant years or decades ago, it means the same thing today.

....society has changed drastically.

When I was in high school, everyone moved out and got apartments.

Today, kids don't move out until they are 30.

All those kids are all now counted as "homeowners".

Carriage houses and "laneway" houses were rare when I was in high school and maybe one or two houses on a city block had basement suites. Basement BARS were much more popular that "suites".

Today, they are prolific due to the need for "mortgage helpers". Entire city blocks in Kelowna have basement suites and there are new build areas of town with the same type of layout. WIlden ect.

Allllllll those renters are "homeowners" according to stats Canada and you.

[ash71]

This statement is extremely misleading. The wording implies that 70% of 40 million Canadians are homeowners... that 28 million Canadians are homeowners. But the actual statistic is that 66.5% of Canadians live in owner-occupied homes. So, according to BCL, if someone rents out 5 rooms in their home, then 6 people are "homeowners"...obviously this is not the case. Semantics matter.

Ash, I can understand why some people want to make things look worse than they actually are, but making stuff up and exaggerating won't help.

FYI, homeownership percentage is not calculated that way. It goes by the percentage of households. So roughly, 67% are homeowners, whereas the remainder of 33% are renters. And no renter counts as a "homeowner", whether the homeowner lives on the rental premises, or not.

Homeownership goes by the percentage of households that are owner-occupied. If the homeowner, that lives in the house, rents 5 rooms to 5 people, then those 5 people are counted as living in an owner-occupied house. Your blanket statement that 70% of Canadians own their house just simply isn't true, no matter how you try to spin it.

almost 70% of nowadays Canadians are homeowners,

[Mazdatruck]

Fine, then go to your bank and ask them to give you a "universal" mortgage, without questioning your personal income.

95%-98%% of Canadian workers would not be approved for the average priced house in Canada.

Personal income vs. how much money the bank will lend you.

[seewood]

95%-98%% of Canadian workers would not be approved for the average priced house in Canada.

I'll call bolicks on that.

Many places in Canada trade people and mill workers earn a good sum and the housing in the area may not be at the price point Kelowna or the Okanagan is right now.
Williams Lake RE: https://www.remax.ca/bc/williams-lake-r ... geNumber=1

A millworker or plumber earning $70,000 a year with a partner at the hospital working as a nurse or teaching earning the same or more and the combined income could easily afford a mortgage on some houses in WL.

One just has to deal with the winter which can be more harsh and longer compared to Kelowna.
Just another option eh...

Complaining about something without a viable solution is just that, complaining.

[Mazdatruck]

95%-98%% of Canadian workers would not be approved for the average priced house in Canada.

I'll call bolicks on that.

Argue with readily available Stats Canada and CRA data on income distribution in Canada. Email the CRA and tell them they are out to lunch because according to them :

Only 1% of Canadians ear $317,000 a year or more

5% of Canadians earn about $115,000 a year.

If you are the cream of the crop in Canada and making 120,000 dollars a year, the bank will only lend you around $350,000 to $450,000. The average house price in Canada is $712,000 as of October 2024,

Better call the CRA and Stats Can.

[Lerfy]

I'm not sure why some of you are even responding to the nonsense in this thread. One side of the discussions opinion seems to be as long as 'somebody' can afford a 20 million dollar property, that 20 million dollar property qualifies as affordable housing. There is no discussion to be had when faced with that type of nonsensical view.

The statistics you guys are presenting hit right at the heart of the real issue when people use the term affordable housing. The point is that less and less Canadians can afford to buy homes than each prior generation. A family who bought a home 30 years ago would need to share it with 3 other families to afford the same quality of housing today. That trend has and will continue to have disastrous consequences to each generation that follows us.

[DoDo1975]

I'm not sure why some of you are even responding to the nonsense in this thread. One side of the discussions opinion seems to be as long as 'somebody' can afford a 20 million dollar property, that 20 million dollar property qualifies as affordable housing. There is no discussion to be had when faced with that type of nonsensical view.

The statistics you guys are presenting hit right at the heart of the real issue when people use the term affordable housing. The point is that less and less Canadians can afford to buy homes than each prior generation. A family who bought a home 30 years ago would need to share it with 3 other families to afford the same quality of housing today. That trend has and will continue to have disastrous consequences to each generation that follows us.

You are ignoring the rest of the argument from that side. It was worse than that in the middle ages and people survived just fine, so quite your bitchin!