The numbers don’t lie: The housing crisis is not caused by a supply shortage | CCPA
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Financialization, not demographics or supply, caused the cost of housing to explode in Canada.

the housing crisis has been created by banking practices that have directed excessive amounts of credit into the property market, and especially residential mortgages. As a result, buyers can bid prices up to ever-higher levels, resulting in a market where people must pay more for the same type of housing. Hence financialization can be defined as an inflationary tendency in the housing market that is induced jointly by banks’ desire to expand mortgage lending and buyers’ confidence that the value of their properties will rise.

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However, the image of a bubble bursting and prices returning to a more rational “equilibrium” level does not seem to apply to the housing market. Because housing is a necessity, people are willing to pay high prices for it. Bidding wars can therefore persist even when relative supply grows, so long as credit markets enable them.

  • patatas@sh.itjust.works
    4·
    21 hours ago

    A lot of that “equity” is really capital gains since housing prices have gone up like mad over the last decade.

    The magic wand is public, non-market housing and we should not accept homelessness and child poverty as the collateral damage of a system that property owners have benefitted from.

    Adopting a defeatist attitude is the same as saying that we want people to die on our streets.

    I say this as a homeowner: I will vote for affordable housing.

    • fourish@lemmy.world
      13·
      17 hours ago

      As someone who is building a new sdh right now, I will vote for affordable housing that doesn’t damage our equity.

          • patatas@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            22 minutes ago

            My instinct is to yell at you but I’m gonna ask a question instead:

            have you considered that your family would also benefit, along with everyone else, from not having to worry about being able to afford housing?

          • Soup@lemmy.world
            2·
            12 hours ago

            You really aren’t. Your children will suffer in the future all for your short-sighted greed. Other people’s families will suffer, too. You won’t care, it seems, because you appear to be broken, like you’re missing some core piece of being a human being.

            Thanks, Captain Burden.