Alongside milk, bread, and prescription drugs, new apartment buildings are now GST-free. 

What happened: The federal government announced an immediate removal of the federal GST on the construction of new rental apartments—a move Ottawa urged provinces to follow.

If your top skills include “counting, like, really high” then boy, does the government have a job for you. 

What happened: A report published yesterday by CIBC economist Benjamin Tal found that there are around one million more non-permanent residents (NPRs) in Canada—including international students—than government estimates would lead home builders to believe.

Montréal is famous for its bagels, poutine, and… apartment swaps? 

Driving the news: As Montréal’s annual rent growth outpaces most of the country, some residents are swapping apartments to lock in leases below market value. Trading leases instead of shopping on the open real estate market is one creative way to keep prices at bay.

In today’s episode of ‘Canadian housing gone wrong’: A 2021 Montréal bylaw meant to lead to the construction of over 1,200 new social housing units has produced zero. 

What happened: The idea of the bylaw is to force developers to contribute to the city’s affordable housing supply by creating housing themselves, giving up a property to the city, or offering a financial contribution. Every developer has chosen the option to pay up.

With rents hitting record highs and the school year incoming, start-ups are helping students find rooms where they can live, study, and hang posters of Quentin Tarantino movies. 

Driving the news: A new crop of companies is providing housing for students by pairing them with the growing number of Canadians with spare bedrooms, per The Globe and Mail.  

Much like baggy clothes and country music, zoning laws are having a moment. 

What happened: Vancouver city council is voting on a policy that would allow developers to build up to six units on just over half of land reserved for single-detached housing. If approved, the policy could come into force by January. 

Hey, want to build houses? Asking for our friends in the construction industry.
 
Driving the news: As one-fifth of Canada’s construction workforce nears retirement age, the industry faces a severe labour crunch as it struggles to recruit new builders. 

We don’t need to tell you Canada needs a lot more homes (around 3.5 million more by 2030 if you ask the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation), and there’s no shortage of people talking about the problem. 

But the Squamish First Nation in B.C. is actually doing something to fix it.

Catch up: Along with the 6,000-apartment Senakw development in Vancouver it announced last year, the Squamish are planning to develop more of their 350 acres of reserve land, over half of which is in Metro Vancouver.

The cost of raising a roof is going through the roof. 

Driving the news: The average cost of building a home or apartment complex in 11 major Canadian cities was up 54% in the first three months of 2023 compared with the same timespan in 2019, per The Globe and Mail.

New Zealand and Canada have remarkably similar housing markets, with one big difference: Prices there are crashing harder than a toddler after a sugar rush.

Driving the news: A series of interest rate hikes have dragged down New Zealand home prices by ~18% over the past 18 months, erasing billions in wealth and helping spin the country into a recession, per The New York Times.