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Ontario’s housing construction is lagging badly behind the rest of Canada, even as the national pace of housing starts has picked up to a historic level—263,000 units in July alone, marking a 3.7% increase over the previous month. In stark contrast, the Greater Toronto Area saw housing starts plunge by 69% year-over-year in July, and were down 49% compared to the previous year, largely due to surging development costs and hefty municipal charges.
This divergence is especially worrying as it undermines efforts to tackle Ontario’s housing affordability crisis. RBC economist Robert Hogue noted that Ontario’s construction lag is “at the root of the housing crisis”. The province’s six-month average housing starts hit the lowest level in a decade, moving in the opposite direction of what’s needed to reach the ambitious target of 1.5 million new homes over ten years. Ontario’s final housing starts count for 2024—about 94,753 units (including traditional homes, student housing, long-term care beds, etc.)—fell significantly short of the required 125,000 to stay on track.
Read the full article on: Global NEWS
