ICYMI: Douglas Todd: Why Vancouver housing prices became so out of whack

Not much new but neverthelesss telling:

Prices in Canada’s major cities have also been growing extremely fast compared to other countries.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which monitors global economic trends, reports that Canadian housing prices since 2015 have skyrocketed roughly twice as swiftly as prices in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany and France.

Why? Even the stodgy Bank of Canada, which is hard to accuse of being racist, in January acknowledged that the country’s rapid population growth, 98 per cent of which comes from international migration, has led to higher costs for housing.

The National Bank of Canada’s chief economist, Stefane Marion, is also among the many voices lamenting how years of welcoming record-breaking numbers of new residents is strongly contributing to inflation, especially of shelter costs and rents.

Unfortunately, many politicians and the development industry obfuscate the issue by putting virtually all the blame for lofty prices on a lack of supply, plus mortgage rates and bureaucratic red tape.

But a host of housing analysts, such as Steve Saretsky, John Pasalis, Ron Butler, Stephen Punwasi, Ben Rabidoux, Patrick Condon, Mike Moffat and others, counter that Canadian developers, especially in Metro Vancouver, have been building new housing at a frantic rate — yet still cannot come close to keeping up with demand.

That demand has been exacerbated ever since 2015, when newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau began to crank up targets for new permanent and non-permanent residents to rates far more intense than any other Western country. Last year, Canada’s population grew by a record 1.25 million people because of it.

Meanwhile, a huge cohort of people in Canada who seek a place to live at a reasonable price, including many newcomers, continue to suffer.

For Metro Vancouver, it all adds up to a double whammy: The gateway city has its own distinct house-price problems, and it’s located in a country that compounds them.

Source: Douglas Todd: Why Vancouver housing prices became so out of whack