Canada

I still think the easiest way to solve the lack of housing issues would be to charge an override premium interest level for second homes and investment homes.

Make it unprofitable for landlords to carry the costs, and voila, more homes on the market.

That, or reverse the taxability of interest on homes. Primary residence? Interest is deductible against earned income. Investment property? No tax breaks on interest paid, only capital improvements. This would also be a huge cost-of-living improvement for lower and middle classes.

Would make for a lot of unhappy boomers with multiple rental properties, but honestly fuck em, they've had a good enough ride already.

Just keep kicking the can down the road until there's literally no other option...

Canadian banks have been seeing a rise in such negatively amortizing mortgages, with the expected time for a borrower to pay back the loan sometimes stretching past 30 years. At least one quarter of the Canadian mortgage portfolio at Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are now in that category. And nearly a third of Royal Bank of Canada’s domestic borrowers are are covering their interest only, so their amortizations are extending too.

Oh boy... 😬 At these proportions, the banks don't have a choice but to stretch the amortizations.

I'm sure the economy will turn around once WW3 starts, wars always fix economic problems!

I wish I was joking.

We need to treat primary residence mortgages like taxes. I get the increase in borrowing rates to prevent people from buying things to combat inflation, but it really doesn't help the cost of living crisis when you price having a place to live out of many Canadians' budgets.