Inadequate safeguards for property rights affecting housing affordability
Housing Affordability
Supreme Court’s Annapolis Ruling A Win For Property Owners
But the fight for fair compensation over property rights continues
Solving the Global Housing Crisis
The worldwide lack of affordable housing can only be resolved politically. The global housing crisis across the high-income world, particularly in the Anglosphere, represents perhaps the single biggest challenge to the future of the middle class. From the...
Leaders on the Frontier: Cost of Living Under Crisis with Charles Blain and Wendell Cox
Big Topics & Big Ideas
Featured News
Our Health Ministers Need to Take a Lesson from Hockey Coaches
Those of you who are tired of my rants about the demise of our once great health system will be pleased to know that this is my last editorial. I am retiring from the BCMJ Editorial Board; currently, I am the longest-serving member (more than 20 years). I have been a...
Zinchuk: Oilpatch Only Spending Half What It Spent in 2014
Back in the lofty, pre-Justin Trudeau government days of 2014, back when oil was booming, pipelines were planned to east and west coasts, and Alberta and Saskatchewan were swimming in money, around $81 billion was spent in capital expenditures (CAPEX) in the Canadian...
Japan Prefectures: COVID-19 Fatality Rates and Urban Densities
Japan has done remarkably well in controlling the Covid-19 virus. The nation’s death rate per million population at 0.9, is very low by international standards and the lowest among the G-7 nations. Yet there are significant variations among the prefectures — as...
Cut Expensive Housing Regulations to Preserve the Middle Class
Last year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published research showing that the middle-class is shrinking throughout the developed world. In Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle-Class, OECD emphasized that the threat to the middle-class...
How Federal Policy Mishandled Mortgages – Part 2
The federal government has made misguided mortgage policies in recent years. The first, in 2015, was to raise the amount that CMHC mortgages required for a down payment. The second, in 2016, was to increase the stress test. The third, in 2017, was that the mortgage...
How Federal Policy Mishandled Mortgages – Part 1
The federal government has made misguided mortgage policies in recent years. The first, in 2015, was to raise the amount that Canadian Mortgage and Housing Company (CMHC) mortgages required for a down payment. The second, in 2016, was to increase the stress test. The...
Housing Affordability in Canada 2020
There has long been concern about deteriorating housing affordability in Canada. The OECD has expressed concerns about the decline of the middle-class in Canada and the substantial role of house price increases. Two of the 10 least affordable major markets are in...
Housing Affordability In Canada 2020 Index
There has long been concern about deteriorating housing affordability in Canada. The OECD has expressed concerns about the decline of the middle-class in Canada and the substantial role of house price increases. Two of the 10 least affordable major markets are in...
Ottawa is 2900 square kilometres and the expansion, if it is approved, the expansion of the urban boundary is 1650 hectares (~16.5 square kilometres), causing great debate among the city council, we are going to focus on intensification, urban expansion, and housing...
A Look at Demographia’s Latest Housing Affordability Survey
Hites Ahir: You recently released the 16th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey: 2020. Tell us about the housing affordability measure used in the survey. Wendell Cox: Demographia uses the “median multiple,” which is the median house price...
Canada’s Resurgent Population Growth and Exodus from Unaffordability
Canada is experiencing resurgent growth, according to the latest population estimates from Statistics Canada. Between 2015 and 2019, the nation added 1.30 percent to its population annually. This is up about one-third from the annual rate between 2010 and 2015. The...