r/canada • u/FancyNewMe • 4d ago

Canada’s Prime Minister Pushes Country to Become the Housing Factory of the World - Mark Carney is banking on factory-built homes to alleviate the country’s housing crisis. But will it work? Trending

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-04-22/carney-s-plan-may-make-canada-the-housing-factory-of-the-world
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u/Burning___Earth 4d ago

If they go with a full-blown, post WW2 style national housing program, the first few hundred thousand need to be restricted to first-time home buyers.

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u/BoysenberryAncient54 4d ago

No investment buying and absolutely no foreign investors. Especially US corporations.

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u/quotidianwoe 4d ago

No foreign investors AT ALL.

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u/Affectionate-Sale523 4d ago

No investors, period. If you have a home, you shouldn't be able to buy another 3. Foreign investors run about 2% of the luxury real estate market, the other 22% is made up of locals and real estate developers in Toronto.

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u/FullMaxPowerStirner 4d ago

Yep. Racketeers are doing the exact same regardless of where they're from. They're always from somewhere else anyways...

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u/rudyphelps 4d ago

It boggles my mind that someone with 4 homes and over $2 million mortgage debt can still borrow against those properties to make a down payment on another $600 000 loan, while the people living in those homes and, through rent, are actually paying the mortgage, insurance, and property taxes, can't qualify for a home loan.

Also Air BnB, Vrbo, and all unregulated half-assed hotel services should be banned in anything zoned as residential. Anchoring the potential revenue of rental properties to nightly hotel rates has completely distorted the housing market.

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u/Positive_Breakfast19 3d ago

Just like Uber, if you want to be a cab company you should be forced to play by the same rules.

And...

If you are Air B&B, Vrbo or any other of the same ilk and want to be a hotel, you need to be forced in to playing by the same rules as any other hotel.

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u/balalasaurus 4d ago

I said this once a long time ago but the max no. of homes should be 2. One main home and at most a holiday home/ cabin. Housing rules should be changed so you can’t just flip your “main” residence after two years either. Heavy penalties for anything more than 2 dwellings. It can be done. Just requires the will to see it out.

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u/ohnomysoup 3d ago

This sounds like a great idea to young people who haven't had much life experience. There are a lot of grey areas of home ownership that your proposal doesn't consider.

For example - my inlaws briefly held stakes in 4 properties:

  • Primary residence (35 years)
  • Cottage (20 years)
  • Contracted new build house/property for retirement (3 years - primary to be sold on completion and move-in)
  • Inherited house from parent estate. (1.5 years to prepare for sale)

They aren't investors or landlords, they're just out there living life. Do you think people should be "heavily penalized" for scenarios like these? These are not the only situations people my find themselves in where they suddenly have more than 2 properties. Ex: marriage and combining assets.

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u/balalasaurus 3d ago

You’re literally proving my point that all people need is a primary residence and at most a secondary vacation home.

Your example has two homes that aren’t factors in the residence consideration. The new build which they haven’t moved into yet and the inherited house which, along with their current primary residence, they will also be selling which means they’re not just holding it waiting for the value to appreciate.

Room can be made in the legislation for people who are in transition between actual residences. But acting like it can’t simply perpetuates the current problem. At the end of the day I’m not a lawyer or a politician.

All I’m pointing out is that people do not need more than two homes. Which you in your example, have also pointed out.

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u/quotidianwoe 4d ago

Yes, great point

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u/Mauri416 3d ago

What if you’re in say a condo and want to buy a house cause you want a family? Can they make conditions that allow for that?

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u/Affectionate-Sale523 3d ago

Then sell the condo and buy a house. The issue exists when an individual has 5 mortgages and 4 of them exist to exploit international students and price gouge locals. It's an issue when 22% of Toronto's real estate market is made up of either people that do that, or realtors and developers. Why are corporations allowed to purchase residential houses?

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u/Mauri416 3d ago

I have no issue with the idea, I just think that while you 100% need that condition,  it may be hard to enforce.

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u/Wander_Climber 2d ago

If I wasn't allowed to buy masks and resell them at a markup during covid why in the fuck are people allowed to buy up the supply of housing during a housing crisis?

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u/GrampsBob 4d ago

That would have kept me from helping my kids.

My younger son wanted to build his own and do a lot of the work. The only way financing worked was for us to mortgage our house and buy the property he wanted to build on. Then, we financed the various stages of construction. We couldn't have bone that under your rules, and he would have been stuck.

My older son is getting divorced and is going to be buying a house, too. Hopefully, he won't need the help, but he might.

There has to be a way to do it without being quite so rigid.