The federal government is removing the GST on all new apartment constructions in an effort to ease the financial burden on builders amid high interest rates.
Genuinely baffling take, our entire system prioritizes the homeowner above all else. Policies like a GST exemption are the smallest of crumbs in a world where it’s literally illegal to build an apartment building in 80% of the land in our largest cities.
Only looking at (taxpayer-funded) subsidies alone, homeowners get FHSAs, first time buyer tax credit, home buyer’s plan, tax-free imputed rent, unlimited capital gains exemption, and a slew of other provincial grants. This is all while they build equity! What do renters get in comparison?
Arguably purpose built rental buildings have tighter control over the cost of that rental. Condo buildings on the other hand have inflated cost at the builder end because they have to be built fancier to entice buyers. That’s why you only see “luxury” condos with names built. Then you have buyers outbidding each other, inflating the purchase price for those condos. As a result a much bigger amount of money is locked into that building doing nothing other than extracting interest and higher maintenance fees from the owner.
The reason I’m talking about buildings is because you can’t solve the housing problem with houses. They don’t work economically or environmentally. In that case the only relevant modes of housing are rental buildings and condos.
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Genuinely baffling take, our entire system prioritizes the homeowner above all else. Policies like a GST exemption are the smallest of crumbs in a world where it’s literally illegal to build an apartment building in 80% of the land in our largest cities.
Only looking at (taxpayer-funded) subsidies alone, homeowners get FHSAs, first time buyer tax credit, home buyer’s plan, tax-free imputed rent, unlimited capital gains exemption, and a slew of other provincial grants. This is all while they build equity! What do renters get in comparison?
Arguably purpose built rental buildings have tighter control over the cost of that rental. Condo buildings on the other hand have inflated cost at the builder end because they have to be built fancier to entice buyers. That’s why you only see “luxury” condos with names built. Then you have buyers outbidding each other, inflating the purchase price for those condos. As a result a much bigger amount of money is locked into that building doing nothing other than extracting interest and higher maintenance fees from the owner.
The reason I’m talking about buildings is because you can’t solve the housing problem with houses. They don’t work economically or environmentally. In that case the only relevant modes of housing are rental buildings and condos.