In recent years, Canadians have increasingly seen financial firms — such as private equity firms and real estate investment trusts (REITs) — buying up apartment buildings. The largest 25 financial landlords in Canada hold nearly 20 per cent of the country’s private, purpose-built rental stock.
At the same time, Canada’s housing affordability crisis has exploded. A 2022 report found that in 93 per cent of Canadian neighbourhoods, a full-time minimum wage worker cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment.
Many observers have connected this financialization of housing to rising unaffordability. But until recently, a lack of data has made it challenging to prove it.
Our recent study, based on building-level rent and ownership data in the Greater Toronto Area, is the first to decisively show that financial firms charge higher rents and raise them more quickly than other landlords. We also found that financial firms raise rents most aggressively in lower-income areas with more racialized residents.
The new housing minister says prices should not fall, and they are still increasing immigration faster than housing completions. So we likely get the same as Trudeau, whose first year saw a large increase in immigration and housing prices.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SozqexLpyXE
Then the same capital shallowing Caroline Rogers warned about when she talks about alarm level productivity growth.
Increasing market concentration is because immigrants. Got it. 🙄
Increased immigration is part of the problem, yes. But not the only source.
What is “the problem”? Do immigrants own the largest 25 financial landlords in Canada holding nearly 20 per cent of the country’s private, purpose-built rental stock?
No. But the added pressure means there’s more demand for housing. Meaning landlords can jack up prices further.
BTW, not saying the immigrants themselves are the problem. Rather the high immigration levels set the by the federal government. Immigrants are victims in all of this.
There is nothing wrong with “demand”. It is essential to economic growth. Market forces, and governments are the ones failing here.
Yeah, I’m sorry. But we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. I mean, you’re not wrong. But I also believe that what I’m saying is true.
I mean the federal government’s ministry of immigration and citizenship has admitted that it is a factor.
Immigration is a factor. Governments (note the S) lack of planning and strategy around it, leaving it to the invisible hand of “market forces” hasn’t worked. Even without immigration social trends alone would have dictated higher housing demand as more people are staying single or getting divorced and living on their own. This era of artificially low interest rates and being awash in excessive liquidity for prolonged periods due to various “financial” crises is a much bigger factor in this by creating this prolonged housing bubble. Housing shortages aren’t just local. It’s global. The world’s population has always been growing. There’s always been immigration. The reason we have governments is properly manage and plan for these things. It’s been a failure at every single level - local, municipal, provincial, and federal.
Economic growth per capita is good. Economic growth via mass immigration, when we are second last in per capita GDP growth of the 38 countries of the OECD since 2015, is bad.
Luxembourg is not even a real country, we may as well be last.
https://ibb.co/5hQpR4bf
Is there something wrong with the statistics, I’d be curious how dramatically increasing immigration into an existing housing shortage wouldn’t lead to further shortages.
Do you mind elaborating how that would be possible without dramatically increasing the speed of construction beforehand by increasing infrastructure, reducing red tape, lowering development taxes, and increasing zoning density?
Nope. This is just an attempt to muddy the waters and redirect the conversation to something else. The article is about market concentration in housing.
I told you so. (Not you personally, but the community)