Addressing Canada's Housing Attainability Crisis

The laws of supply and demand have not been revoked: if home prices and rents are rising faster than the price of everything else, then demand for housing is outstripping supply, led by population growth. To spur construction, the government has eliminated the GST on newly built rentals. Will this do the job?

Adding 5% directly to the bottom line for developers should be very meaningful; so this is certain to boost construction of rental homes, but only if other impediments do not get in the way. New supply has been held back by multiple factors: regulations, rent controls, permitting, land development charges, and so on. If a builder was to decide to double planned building over the next five years, it is not certain the system would allow them to get it done.