Supporting A STRonG REAL ESTATE MARKET
Affordable home ownership and a strong real estate market – your business depends on it. At OREA, we’re lobbying all the time for policies that support both.
As first-time home buyers, growing families and millennials continue to run up against home affordability challenges, there appears to be little relief without an increase in housing supply. OREA was on the frontline of this debate in 2017, taking every opportunity to remind policy makers that increasing housing supply in the province is the best solution to keeping home ownership within reach for future home buyers.
More supply means more affordable home ownership and choice for buyers.
Rising real estate prices dominated news headlines in 2017. In response, the Ontario Government introduced the Fair Housing Plan in April 2017 to cool the market. On top of provincial action, a federally regulated mortgage stress test came into effect that made buying a home more difficult. Governments at all levels were determined to keep the real estate market from getting out of control. Unfortunately, the casualties of this government pile on were middle class home buyers. Specifically, first-time buyers, growing families and millennials.
To keep home ownership affordable for middle class families, OREA pushed to ease the red tape burden on Ontario home builders so they could inject more housing supply into the market. More supply, means more affordable prices. More supply also means more choice for growing.
We partnered with the Ontario Home Builders Association and the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario at our first ever Housing Summit to promote pro-supply policies to decision makers.
Our message was heard by policymakers. The Fair Housing Plan announced by the provincial Government in April 2017 committed to looking at ways to increase housing supply in the province.
Then in May 2017, the province announced updates to Ontario’s Growth Plan that would allow for more housing supply to enter the market.
We made significant progress in 2017, but the fight for more housing supply continues.
