The following is a joint statement released on Oct. 27 by members of Ontario’s housing sector, including the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) and Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA).

Ontario is facing a housing emergency. Projects are stalling, builders are cancelling developments and families and individuals are being priced out of the market.

As the provincial and federal governments prepare to release their fall economic statement and budget respectively, our message is urgent: bold, coordinated action is needed to boost housing construction, lower costs and bring affordability back within reach for residents.

Housing is more than just shelter; it’s the foundation of our economy and the heart of our communities. Today, Ontario’s housing sector, from builders, Realtors, business groups, trade associations, not-for-profit organizations and rental providers, speaks with one clear voice. Together with governments at all levels, we must move swiftly to unlock housing supply, cut costs, and restore affordability by accelerating ownership and rental housing delivery.

We acknowledge the positive work done so far by the federal, provincial and municipal governments regarding policy developments, zoning reform and funding programs to encourage more housing construction, including the most recent provincial housing bill, Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act, 2025, which signals the government’s intention to take further practical steps in cutting red tape, lowering construction costs and restoring confidence and investment in the rental housing market by speeding up slow resolution processes to adjudicate landlord and tenant disputes. Other efforts include the Housing Accelerator Fund, the Apartment Construction Loan Program, Build Canada Homes, the Building Ontario Fund, the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, reform to end exclusionary zoning and allow as-of-right construction of multi-plexes on single lots and the Building Faster Fund, among other projects. However, more action is still needed.

We also recognize that potential disruptions impacting the housing ecosystem that are outside the direct control of governments and industry, such as trade wars, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty, need to be considered as we navigate an uncertain environment at the macro level. 

Housing remains the backbone of Canada’s economy. It supports over 1.2 million jobs and contributes more than $143 billion in economic activity yearly to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, rising costs, difficult regulatory environments, economic uncertainty and constrained supply have slowed new housing starts and home purchases, putting tens of thousands of skilled trade jobs at risk. This will impact spin-off economic activity in related sectors and push both home ownership and rental housing further out of reach for many residents.

To meet Ontario and Canada’s housing challenge, a united focus on delivery is required. By reducing construction costs, attracting investments and aligning tax policy, zoning and approval systems, governments at all levels can restore confidence, protect jobs and support innovation at the speed and scale Canadians urgently need.

Policy priorities for immediate action

To restore affordability and confidence in the housing market, we are calling on municipal, provincial and federal governments to work collaboratively with the housing sector by adopting the following measures:

1. Position and profile housing as an economic driver: To ensure housing policy is economic policy, recognize housing construction and trade as a core driver of employment and GDP, adopt a framework to preserve the tremendous job creation that the housing industry generates, and acknowledge that housing unaffordability is also affecting our overall economic productivity, especially in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA).

2. Modernize outdated tax rules: Extend the GST/HST exemption on new homes up to $1.5 million for homebuyers, reflecting current market realities, particularly in major urban centres, and encouraging new construction.

3. Cut costs for homebuyers: Align cost recovery with actual service delivery and housing goals to reduce barriers to construction and costs to homebuyers. Municipalities and provinces need to collaborate with industry to modernize the fee structure applied to new housing, which is currently inflating housing costs and constraining new supply.

4. Build faster through innovation in parallel to traditional building: Support the advent, inclusion and expansion of modern construction methods – including panelized systems, modular building, robotics and other emerging technologies that embrace productivity, reduce costs and construction time, and enable homebuilding at scale. These need to be supported by an innovation policy framework created in partnership with the industry that provides incentives for early adopters and customers of new solutions, as well as investments in Canadian companies providing new solutions. Scaling up pioneering methods should be done in addition to supporting the ongoing innovation and productivity of traditional construction techniques.

5. Free up land and end exclusionary zoning: Act decisively to end outdated zoning restrictions to permit gentle density and a wider mix of housing types, especially missing-middle and multi-unit dwellings in more communities.

6. Incentivize private capital: Encourage programs that incentivize private capital, both investment and philanthropic, for both rental and ownership housing to accelerate market and non-market construction. This should include reintroducing the Multiple Unit Residential Building (MURBS) tax incentive.

The housing sector stands ready to partner with every level of government. Together, we can reignite momentum, rebuild confidence, restore affordability through partnership, innovation and investment, and deliver the homes our communities urgently need.

Signed:

John DiMichele, CEO, Toronto Regional Real Estate Board

Luigi Favaro, CEO, Ontario Real Estate Association

Ene Underwood, CEO, Habitat for Humanity GTA

Michael Brooks, CEO, Real Property Association of Canada

George Carras, CEO, R-LABS Canada

Jonathan Nusbaum, CEO, Terra Modular

Marlon Bray, executive vice president, Clark Construction Management

Tony Irwin, president and CEO, Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario/Rental Housing Canada

Daryl Chong, president and CEO, Greater Toronto Apartment Association

Dave Wilkes, president and CEO, Building Industry and Land Development Association

Kathy Hogeveen, chief of operations, Assembly Corp.

Jude Tersigni, vice president of planning and development, Menkes Developments

Richard Lyall, president, Residential Construction Council of Ontario

Roselle Martino, executive vice president, policy and strategic affairs, Toronto Region Board of Trade

Frank Cairo, co-founder and CEO, Caivan Communities

Nhung Nguyen, CEO, Horizon Legacy

The post Ontario housing sector presents united front on supply, affordability appeared first on REM.

Each month, a BCREA leader shares their insights in an exclusive column for Real Estate Magazine. Interested in contributing? Send us an email.

Few current Canadian politicians have the credentials of newly-appointed Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson, as he has now served in all three levels of government.

Although he’s been out of the political scene for a few years, with his most recent Liberal MP election victory in B.C.’s Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby riding, Robertson is decidedly back on the map.

In years past, he served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the B.C. NDP starting in 2005. He then became the City of Vancouver’s longest-serving mayor, holding the post from 2008 to 2018 as a member of the Vision Vancouver slate.

With a governmental mandate to improve housing affordability nationwide, Robertson’s new, high-profile cabinet post comes with much political baggage and policy challenges. Let’s look at some of Robertson’s past achievements and how they relate to the current Liberal housing plan. 

New technology

In 2011, during his time as mayor of Vancouver, Robertson launched Vancouver’s first Economic Action Strategy, which focused on job creation by supporting local businesses, seeking areas of strategic new investment, and capitalizing on global trade. It also looked at fostering targeted job creation in areas such as green energy and the burgeoning digital media sector.

Back then, Vancouver’s economy was on a major upswing, and (as per a Conference Board of Canada report at the time) it was the fastest-growing metropolitan economy in the country.

Now that Robertson is overseeing expanded housing targets, it’s likely that technology and related job growth will be key parts of his game plan. Tech changes at scale could streamline the way a lot of housing is currently built, which would also create new ancillary jobs as part of the expansion of that tech sector.

During the election campaign, the Liberal Party expressed interest in expanding prefabricated and modular housing to speed up construction timelines. These technologies could also potentially allow for a new level of lesser-qualified tradespeople to be employed in putting the prefabricated sections together onsite. This, in turn, would help relieve the dire forthcoming trade labour shortage.

Environmental housing

As Vancouver’s mayor, Robertson launched several notable housing-related policy initiatives. A major one was the development of the Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. 

The goal was to make Vancouver the “greenest city in the world” by 2020. The program focused on three target areas: carbon, waste, and ecosystems. Much of this initiative focused on developing the “green economy,” which included a sizeable increase in green buildings that offer CO2 reduction.

It will be interesting to see if Robertson’s environmental and green-tech interests intersect with housing targets. He may look at putting additional focus on carbon footprints, sustainable building practices, and green housing technology incentivization. 

The challenge will be that green building typically equates to more expensive construction, which is counterintuitive to fostering an increasingly affordable end-product.

Canadian homelessness issues and housing for in-need demographics

A 2008 policy that garnered significant attention around Metro Vancouver was Robertson’s goal of eliminating homelessness by 2015. Sadly, regional homelessness continued to worsen during that period. As this initiative was a highly public failure, it has long dogged him in how he is remembered as a Vancouver political leader.

That said, homelessness and housing for in-need groups are clearly issues that matter to Robertson. It only stands to reason that he will be anxious to redeem his work in this area and use newfound clout to make an impact.

In terms of specific in-need housing groups, the Liberal pre-election platform referenced both expansion of student housing and care homes, and accommodation for our rapidly aging population.

Incentivizing and expanding rental stock

As a politician with demonstrated sensitivity to in-need groups, Robertson is likely to focus on the sizeable demographic of renters across the country. 

From the 1970s to the early ’80s, the federal government ran a tax incentivization regime called the Multi-Unit Residential Buildings program. During the seven years it was in use, this program inspired a record expansion of rental buildings that has never been matched since.

While it’s an expensive program for the government to operate in terms of lost taxation revenue, it’s proven to work and a likely direction for Robertson as he carries out his mandate.

Governmental housing alignment

As Robertson has worked on the ground in all three layers of government, he’s an ideal politician to implement stronger collaboration from municipal to provincial to federal entities.

Housing issues affect all three layers of government, and they desperately need to approach housing policy as three layers of a single entity.

It’s time for strong top-down leadership, paired with some nuance in approach that recognizes all communities are not the same, and their issues and challenges differ.

What is most needed to move the dial on affordable housing?

Canadian governments have a longstanding habit of trying to solve complex housing issues in isolation. But that way of working won’t achieve the goals this new federal government wants to achieve.

That’s why it’s time to create a permanent national housing roundtable. This roundtable would be made up of 25 or so housing policy experts from across the sector, inclusive of market, non-market, Indigenous, and academic voices. 

A group like this working collaboratively with the government to share ideas, pre-vet policy, provide advance feedback, share research, and conduct joint analysis could work miracles in what can be achieved.

All is not lost. This country can fix its housing issues. But it’s going to take more than any one politician or any one policy. Let’s do this together.

Trevor Hargreaves

Trevor Hargreaves oversees research and policy, government relations, and communications at the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. Before joining BCREA as the Senior Vice President of Policy Research, Government Relations, Marketing & Communications in 2019, he served as Director of Communications, Government and Public Relations at the BC Dairy Association and, prior to that, toiled in regional media and journalism.

The post Politics in the Wild West: What a B.C.-based federal housing minister could mean for national policy appeared first on REM.

Of the 674 respondents—most of whom identified as Realtors over the age of 40—54.3 per cent said they would vote for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party, compared to 38.3 per cent for the Liberals under Mark Carney. Just over 5 per cent were undecided, while support for other parties remained in the single digits.

When asked which leader they believed would be better for the real estate industry, respondents once again leaned toward Poilievre (52.7 per cent), with Carney coming in at 35.5 per cent and 11.2 per cent unsure. 

Columnist Daniel Foch shared the results live on REM’s monthly market call. “One that didn’t surprise me, based on polling I’ve done with my audience and what I’ve seen in the industry, is that the majority of people in real estate feel Pierre Poilievre would be better for the industry,” he explains. 

Foch argues that while Poilievre’s platform aligns with many in the industry on red tape and supply, the Liberal platform—focused on immigration and market intervention—has historically driven up prices. But higher prices don’t always mean a healthy market: “Rising house prices mean people can’t afford homes, which means they don’t buy them. So that’s not necessarily good for the industry.”

Housing policy matters

It’s no surprise housing is top of mind. But what’s especially revealing is how Realtors evaluate proposed solutions.

Respondents were asked which federal party’s housing plan appealed most: 245 respondents preferred the Conservatives’ plan, narrowly ahead of the Liberals at 230.

Key features of the Conservative platform—such as tying federal funding to municipal housing targets, deferring capital gains on investments and removing GST on homes under $1.3-million—struck a chord. 

“The Conservative plan—particularly the capital gains deferral piece—seems to have a lot of support,” says Foch. “That’s a fascinating idea… it could appeal to boomers, for instance, selling their property and reinvesting in Canadian stocks.”

Respondents also showed strong support for broader affordability policies like extending mortgage amortizations and removing the stress test.

Priorities: cut red tape, build more, ease the squeeze

When asked to identify the top three housing issues the federal government should tackle, the most common responses were:

• Reducing development fees and red tape (49.4 per cent)
• Building more homes (43.5 per cent)
• Easing mortgage qualification rules or interest rates (37.7 per cent)

These responses suggest readers favour a supply-side strategy and financial flexibility over direct intervention or regulation. For instance, policies like national rent control and taxing corporate landlords received notably lower support.

According to Foch, that aligns with a clear desire to increase transaction volume, “Reducing development fees and red tape was seen as a top federal priority. That’s likely why people feel Pierre’s solutions are better for the industry. More supply to transact is always helpful.”

Asked to name the single most important housing issue, 20.3 per cent cited reducing interest rates or mortgage qualification stress, followed by increasing housing supply and cutting bureaucracy.

What kind of federal involvement do readers want?

Nearly half of respondents (47 per cent) said the federal government should be more involved in housing, while 28.3 per cent said it should be less involved. At the same time, 55 per cent said municipal governments should also play a larger role.

Three in four readers (75.8 per cent) said immigration levels should be tied to housing supply capacity—a contentious topic, but one clearly seen through the lens of housing demand.

“This question fascinated me the most,” said Foch. “I used to think Realtors just wanted house prices to go up, but what I’ve determined from reading this survey is that Realtors realize that high house prices are actually a problem for our industry. Affordable homes mean more transactions.”

Optimism vs. uncertainty

While 35.6 per cent of readers said they felt somewhat confident about the housing market over the next two years, a similar share expressed pessimism or neutrality. The biggest challenges facing their business? Market uncertainty (38.7 per cent), buyer affordability (19.4 per cent) and low consumer confidence (18.4 per cent).

“Market uncertainty and consumer confidence were the biggest challenges,” Foch explained. “Over time, people may accept uncertainty and return to the market. That’s when you start seeing a buyer’s market emerge.”

Foch also flagged the economic conditions shaping voter sentiment. “Globally, people interpret Canada as a left-leaning country, but you’re seeing people move from the left to a centrist voting block,” he noted. “This is an economically driven shift.”

A first of its kind for REM

This is REM’s first reader poll of this scale and scope. While the results offer valuable insights into industry sentiment ahead of the federal election, it’s worth noting that we didn’t ask respondents to identify their gender. Additionally, more than 94 per cent of respondents were over the age of 40, and nearly 90 per cent identified as Realtors or brokers.

Ahead of election day,  we’ll be watching closely to see how conversations evolve and industry sentiment shifts. What’s clear from this survey is that housing affordability, supply and policy reform remain the beating heart of the conversation among Realtors in Canada.

The post Poilievre leads with REM readers, but affordability remains top concern appeared first on REM.

Trevor Hargreaves

Trevor Hargreaves oversees research and policy, government relations, and communications at the BC Real Estate Association (BCREA). He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia. Before joining BCREA as the Senior Vice President of Policy Research, Government Relations, Marketing & Communications in 2019, he served as Director of Communications, Government and Public Relations at the BC Dairy Association and, prior to that, toiled in regional media and journalism.

The post Strange times in B.C. politics: What does the B.C. real estate sector need from the next provincial election?  appeared first on REM.