[article] Opinion: Lowering Canada’s high housing costs is also a recipe for raising our notoriously low productivity
[article] Opinion: Lowering Canada’s high housing costs is also a recipe for raising our notoriously low productivity
Highly restrictive zoning in economically dynamic places not only raises housing prices there, it leads to lower economic output nationwide
Non-paywall link: https://archive.is/J2cSo
Turns out the housing crisis is awful for the economy at large.
The op-ed doesn't discuss the other insidious effect of a housing bubble: instead of investing in businesses that can create new jobs, people invest in their real estate, further inflating prices.
We really need to take money out of the real estate sector by removing tax incentives that convince Canadians that their best investment is their home.
Agreed 100%. Upzoning and land value tax would do so much to change the underlying incentive structure. Housing ought to be a consumer good like any other, not a speculative investment or a retirement plan. The fact we became convinced that simply possessing an asset should be our primary means of wealth accumulation is one of our great societal mistakes that we're now paying the price for.