Thursday, August 11, 2022
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Sean Speer available to comment on why closing foreign buyer loophole fails to address Canada’s housing price problem

October 3, 2016
in Latest News, Releases, Sean Speer
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

Sean SpeerOttawa is expected to announce today that it will be closing a loophole on foreign buyers in an attempt to cool down Canada’s hot housing market

OTTAWA, Oct. 3, 2016 – Macdonald-Laurier Institute Munk Senior Fellow Sean Speer says Ottawa’s expected decision to close a loophole for foreign buyers is a sensible one, but it fails to address the most significant reasons for skyrocketing house prices in Canada.

Instead, says Speer, Ottawa should be doing more to reverse provincial and municipal policies that are responsible for the long-term increase in house prices.

Ottawa is expected to announce Monday plans to “close a tax loophole that allows non-residents to buy homes and later claim a tax exemption on the sales”, the Globe and Mail reported.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is a thought leader on addressing the housing price crisis.

Speer is the co-author, with MLI Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley, of a report that finds local decisions to restrict access to land are far more culpable than foreign buyers.

This has made less land available for development, which has contributed to fewer houses being built. Supply has thus failed to keep pace with demand, particularly in major centres like Toronto and Vancouver.

“It was not foreigners who caused the number of single-family detached homes in the Vancouver area to remain essentially unchanged for the past quarter century, or who limited detached home construction in the Toronto area in 2015 to its lowest level in 36 years”, write Crowley and Speer.

So while closing the foreign-buyer loophole will help, it will do little to address the long-term causes of today’s housing price crisis.

“It is far from a silver bullet especially given the extent to which provincial and local policies are a greater driver to the country’s housing affordability challenges”, says Speer. “More must be done to reverse provincial and local policies that are real impediments to homeownership in our major cities”.

Provincial and local governments influence the housing supply by designating where new homes can be built through land-use regulations, the cost of new homes through development fees and other levies, and the scope of renovations and additions to existing homes through building codes and city permits.

These policy levers have been overlooked in much of the political and media attention about foreign investment but their importance in understanding the dynamics of the housing market cannot be overstated.

Crowley and Speer argue in the paper that Ottawa should make itself the spokesperson and agent for the middle class on the housing file and use its spending programmes to spur provinces and municipalities to stop obstructing housing supply, which is hampering the rise of the middle class and hobbling the cities that are such important generators of economic activity.

***

Sean Speer is a Munk Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He previously served in different roles for the federal government including as senior economic adviser to the Prime Minister and director of policy to the Minister of Finance.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

For more information, please contact Mark Brownlee, communications manager, at 613-482-8327 x105 or email at mark.brownlee@macdonaldlaurier.ca.

Tags: housingSean Speer
Previous Post

Sluggish growth returns in August, latest MLI leading economic indicator shows

Next Post

Foreign investors causing “us to take our eye off the ball” on ballooning house prices, Sean Speer tells BNN

Related Posts

NATO member countries are targets of Putin’s military aggression and must act accordingly in Ukraine: Eugene Czolij for Inside Policy
Europe and Russia

While Russia threatens the world with nuclear war, we might be well into it: Yevgeniya Gaber for Inside Policy

August 9, 2022
Wage growth will make it difficult for the Bank of Canada to squeeze out inflation: Philip Cross for BNN Bloomberg
Multimedia

Wage growth will make it difficult for the Bank of Canada to squeeze out inflation: Philip Cross for BNN Bloomberg

August 9, 2022
Canada is a country without a centre, without a purpose: Ken Coates in the National Post
Columns

Canada is a country without a centre, without a purpose: Ken Coates in the National Post

August 9, 2022
Next Post
Foreign investors causing “us to take our eye off the ball” on ballooning house prices, Sean Speer tells BNN

Foreign investors causing “us to take our eye off the ball” on ballooning house prices, Sean Speer tells BNN

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Follow us on

Newsletter Signup

First Name
Last Name
Email Address

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

Inside Policy Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
  • Advertising
  • Inside Policy Blog
  • Privacy Policy

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
    • Jobs
  • Experts
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy Program
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • Economic policy
      • Energy
      • Health Care
      • Justice
      • Social issues
      • Telecoms
    • Foreign Policy Program
      • Foreign Affairs
      • National Defence
      • National Security
    • Indigenous Affairs Program
  • Projects
    • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
    • COVID Misery Index
      • Beyond Lockdown
    • Provincial COVID Misery Index
    • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Dragon at the Door
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
    • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
    • Speak for Ourselves
    • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • The Transatlantic Program
    • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
      • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
    • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
    • Past Projects
      • Justice Report Card
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Libraries
    • Inside Policy Magazine
      • Inside Policy Back Issues
      • Inside Policy Blog
    • Papers
    • Columns
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Straight Talk
    • Video
    • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Leading Economic Indicator
    • Labour Market Report
    • MLI in the Media

© 2021 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

IDEAS CHANGE THE WORLD!Have the latest Canadian thought leadership delivered straight to your inbox.
First Name
Last Name
Email address

No thanks, I’m not interested.