They’re pulling their hair out again in Canada’s two largest markets, the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver Area because, apparently, the housing crisis is over. The last time there was this much hair pulling it was because the housing crisis had started: supply dropped dramatically, and prices soared to historic highs. If lack of supply and soaring prices were hallmarks of the housing crisis, then it is definitely over. .MCMILLAN: To hell with the east, we want to be released.This from BlogTO on August 27: "Even if you're not at all involved, or even interested in Toronto real estate, the sales trends of the last while have been absolutely fascinating, with owners, investors, developers left stranded at sea as the market is flipped on its head," adding, "home sales have tanked to record lows, homes listed for sale have skyrocketed and stay on the market for extended periods of time." So, all the elements of the original housing crisis are gone in the GTA, but now there’s a new crisis, according to the Building Industry and Land Development Association of Toronto. "We need concerted action to address the crisis that is stalling out new supply and compounding the challenges in the GTA housing market," said BILD in a statement. .On the left coast, it's the same story as in the GTA. Sales and prices have headed south, resulting in a huge amount of supply that reached 17,168 listings in July, a year-over-year increase of 20%. Rather than call it a crisis, Andrew Lis, director of economics and data analytics at the Greater Vancouver Realtors association, puts a positive spin on it. "This healthy level of inventory is sufficient to keep home prices trending sideways over the short term as supply and demand remain relatively balanced," said Lis. The question begs: Was there, is there, really a housing crisis? If so, it was started with the Justin Trudeau government's immigration policies of open borders for immigration. Between 2020 and 2024, 1,920,080 permanent residents entered Canada. By mid-2025 that number went to 2,191,395. Add to that more than 3 million temporary resident immigrants by early 2025 (figures from Government of Canada and Statistics Canada). All allowed into Canada with no plans on how to house them. Even current Prime Minister Mark Carney has accused the Trudeau government of losing control of immigration. .Was it a political maneuver by Trudeau to take your attention off his horrendous track record? We don't know. We may never know. Justin's not talking anymore, but when he was, he said there was a housing crisis and the followers of the Liberal cult bought into it. Real estate consultant Paul Betts has decades of experience in housing matters, as a participant and as an analyst. He has a theory about the housing crisis. "There is a housing crisis in Canada because we've been told there is," says Betts, adding the GTA and GVA, "do not speak for the rest of the country and these markets are doing what markets always do. They are correcting." .GIESBRECHT: How to fix CBC? Hire Ezra Levant.Betts says three events ushered in the corrections. "The hype caused by free money for two years; offshore and institutional investor support for developers of projects in the form of presale speculation, and; COVID repositioning of the work force (to remote) have combined for the perfect storm for correction in a few markets," he says. "Further, wage growth and employment strength lag significantly behind price growth and so again, corrections in over-cooked areas are the result where the market always bats last." When the prices were soaring and supply was dwindling in the GTA and GVA, the Prairies benefitted, says Betts. . "Alberta, Saskatchewan and even Manitoba have benefited from their economic attraction and will continue to do so, so I do not see a problem with supply gluts in those," he says. "This is a temporary market lull locally and I reference my points about the rate cut where the election, the tariff issue and a pending budget combine for a cautious position. That, and the prospects of lower rates and prices give reason for pause, not surprisingly." In particular, he says, "Alberta continues to benefit from the Ontario/BC economic shifts, and a new reality and power balance is happening. We should support it and embrace it; there is no real estate problem or crisis (of market housing supply and prices) in Alberta."
