Canada's housing crisis deepens as Liberal promises crumble
Carney’s housing boom campaign promise collapses following a CMHC report predicting a sharp decline in construction in Ontario and British Columbia, intensifying Canada’s affordability crisis amid soaring costs and regulatory hurdles.
Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ambitious campaign pledge to ramp up housing construction to levels unseen since the Second World War, the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) paints a different picture.
In its summer update, CMHC projects a cooling housing market through 2025, driven by trade tensions, economic uncertainty and rising unemployment.
Home prices are expected to dip by approximately 2%, while new construction slows amid high costs and weak demand.
Developers, squeezed by financing constraints and bureaucratic red tape, are delaying or cancelling projects altogether, particularly in Ontario and British Columbia, where housing growth is desperately needed.
CMHC notes that while multi-unit construction remains historically elevated, regional disparities are stark.
Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, and Quebec are seeing robust activity, but Ontario and British Columbia face sharp declines in housing starts.
High prices, rising construction costs, and low investor confidence are stifling new builds, especially condominiums. Many condo projects are being delayed, cancelled, or converted to rentals as developers miss presale targets and unsold inventory piles up.
Falling prices and tighter credit further exacerbate risks for buyers, with these challenges likely to persist throughout 2025.
Just three months ago, Prime Minister Carney campaigned on a vision of a stronger Canada, promising a housing boom to restore affordability.
Yet, as Blacklock’s Reporter highlights, housing starts fell to 245,367 last year, with CMHC forecasting a further drop to 237,833 in 2025 — far below the Liberal target of 500,000 annual starts over the next decade.
A June CMHC report underscored this unfulfilled commitment, estimating that housing starts must nearly double to 430,000–480,000 units annually through 2035 to meet projected demand.
The affordability crisis is biting harder than ever.
Blacklock’s notes that the typical Canadian household now spends 52% of its income on shelter costs — rents and mortgages — compared to just 38% a decade ago.
With construction slowing in key regions and economic pressures mounting, the Liberal government’s bold housing promises ring hollow.
Developers are retreating amid suffocating red tape, leaving Canadians to bear the crushing burden of an increasingly unaffordable housing market.
The stark disconnect between Prime Minister Carney’s lofty campaign promises and the grim reality exposes the Liberal leadership’s persistent failure to deliver meaningful solutions, pushing the dream of homeownership and reliable, affordable housing further out of reach.
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