Rental prices in Canada have been driven by more than just population growth. A new Bank of Canada (BoC) research paper breaks down the factors that can explain the recent surge in 1 bedroom rents from 2020 to 2026. They found that financing costs made a big contribution to higher rents, especially when rates began rising. However, the researcher still couldn’t determine what drove the initial surge at the start of 2020, before the drivers we all accept as the reason, began to appear.
Toronto went from the strongest real estate market in the world to one of the weakest in a span of four years, with a new report finding housing prices in the city have fallen by around 30 per cent since peaking in 2022.
UBS, a global wealth management firm, published its annual Global Real Estate Bubble Index on Monday, tracking residential prices across 23 cities worldwide, like Amsterdam, Dubai, New York City, and Tokyo.
The report delved into housing price trends, what kind of housing bubble risk these cities are facing, how long it takes to buy a 650-square-foot apartment on an average income, and how the cost of homeownership compares to rent for comparable homes.
OTTAWA — Despite being touted as a key affordability measure by the Mark Carney Liberals, a program offering tax relief for Canadians’ first home is leaving applicants waiting — often for months — with a good chance of having their application refused.
Housing affordability just worsened for a growing share of Canadians, new data from Statistics Canada shows.
Nearly one in four (23.2 per cent) Canadian households were living in unaffordable housing in 2024, compared to 22 per cent in 2022, Statistics Canada said in a report on Monday.
Statistics Canada defined households living in “unaffordable” housing as those that spent 30 per cent or more of their income on shelter costs
Driving around Herongate in Ottawa, I saw the usual signs of a low-income neighbourhood: social housing, worn apartment buildings, modest townhomes. I parked at the plain, low-rise community centre and followed the handwritten “Tenants Meeting →” signs on the cinder-block walls, carried along by lively chatter that led me to a room full of people. Residents had gathered because they were being evicted from their homes. One hundred and five families were at risk—more than 500 people.
The space was packed: elders, parents, young people, children, able-bodied and disabled alike. Later, I would learn that 93 percent of the community was racialized, with roots in Africa, the Arab world, and Asia. This was the most diverse neighbourhood I had ever visited in the city, and its residents were being displaced by Timbercreek—a financial firm dressed up as a landlord, with close to $12 billion under management.
I agree Canada’s rental property market is being exploited, but the Walrus is so left it ruins an important story by crying Capitalist racism at every turn rather than speak to real causes like the LPC’s exploitation of immigration policy.
Food does not move by magic. In Canada, it moves largely by diesel.
Diesel powers tractors and combines. It carries ingredients to processors, distribution centres and refrigerated loads to restaurants and grocers. It supports fishing, storage and last-mile delivery. When diesel rises sharply, the food system is not hit once. The shock travels through the chain several times before reaching consumers.
Canada needs to roughly double the rate that new homes are being built in order to restore housing affordability to pre-pandemic levels over the next decade, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The CMHC released its fall 2026 housing supply report on Thursday, which said Canada needs to build hundreds of thousands more homes annually in order to narrow a significant long-term supply gap, with some major markets struggling more than others.
Canada’s Credit Crunch: Peak Homebuyer Defaults & Renter Insolvencies Soar
Canadian households are cracking under the pressure of supersized debt loads. New data from TransUnion shows household debt hit $2.64 trillion in Q2 2026, up 4.6% from last year. The credit agency warns this growth is driven by rising balances, not new loans. Rising risk has already become apparent in soaring insolvencies and mortgage delinquencies.
Ottawa’s decision to extend the federal fuel-tax suspension just days before a new round of counter-tariffs takes effect suggests that the government has finally done its homework on affordability.
The federal excise tax will remain suspended until January 31, 2027, saving motorists 10 cents per litre on gasoline and four cents per litre on diesel. It will return at half its normal rate for February and March before being fully restored in April. For the food sector, the diesel measure is particularly important. Almost everything Canadians eat spends time on a truck, while farmers, processors, wholesalers and retailers all depend heavily on energy.
A Los Angeles city councilman just coined a new appellation for the drug-addicted vagrants who colonize city streets. They are “our neighbors,” says Hugo Soto-Martínez, a member of the L.A. Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Who knew?
This new identity is even more cheeky than the original rebranding of such vagrants as “the homeless.” Soto-Martinez used the “neighbors” designation to persuade his fellow council members to allow homeless encampments near senior centers and libraries and around freeway overpasses. The previous occupant of Soto-Martinez’s seat had banned such encampments in his and, eventually, Soto-Martinez’s district, which includes Hollywood and Echo Park. Last Tuesday’s 10–3 vote repealed that ban. At present, the repeal applies only to what is now Soto-Martinez’s jurisdiction. But expect this green light for street squalor to extend more widely, as the Left pushes Los Angeles further toward uncontrolled anarchy.
Australian beef is on Canadian supermarket shelves at much lower prices than for Canadian beef.
Some producers are concerned about their products being undercut, and some consumers are just happy to have an affordable option.
Tyler Fulton, president of the Canadian Cattle Association, said the Australian option has been around for years.
Do you see Oz Beef on offer at your local grocer?
…the rates of Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, USA and Italy?
Canada has roughly 420–426 housing units (dwellings) per 1,000 people in recent years, which is among the lowest of the compared countries and well below the OECD average.
According to the C.D. Howe Institute, Canada’s ratio stood at 431 units per 1,000 people in 2015 but fell to 426 by 2023 as population growth outpaced new construction. An IMF assessment cited about 419 in 2020 (below the then-OECD average of ~485), with further declines afterward. Other sources (including earlier Scotiabank and OECD-related figures) place it in the low-to-mid 420s around 2020–2023.
Approximate recent comparisons (dwellings/housing units per 1,000 inhabitants, mostly 2021–2025 data from national statistics, OECD Affordable Housing Database compilations, and secondary aggregations; years and exact definitions can vary slightly by source):Italy: ~600–603 (highest among the group; elevated in part by secondary/vacation homes).
France: ~550–559.
Germany: ~510–516.
Britain (UK): ~426–433.
USA: ~425–428.
Canada: ~420–426. cdhowe.org
Ireland: ~410–417.
Britain is facing a housing disaster – A sclerotic economy and an ever more restrictive planning system have brought us to the brink.
Maybe Canada’s peak opportunity for young adults really was in the 70s and 80s? Statistics Canada (StatCan) data shows the median income didn’t budge at all in 2024 after inflation. Since peaking in 2021, the median income hasn’t made much progress after inflation—except for older Canadians. While older demographics continue to see their real (inflation-adjusted) incomes hit new highs, younger ones saw their incomes peak nearly half a century ago. Seriously.
During the last federal election every Liberal campaign sign in my neighborhood was outside a home owned by a retired boomer. Every single one. They see Canada entirely different than I do. It’s crazy. https://t.co/AGfLl3Wnv5
— Brian Blyther (@thetaxpayer1) August 10, 2026
Canada’s chicken market is sending a signal that Ottawa can no longer afford to ignore: supply is not keeping pace with demand.
Chicken Farmers of Canada reported this week that production during the first four months of 2026 was 5.6 per cent higher than during the same period last year. That sounds reassuring. But the same organization also acknowledged that underproduction remained a challenge, while wholesale prices for whole birds and legs reached record levels.
