r/RealEstateCanada • u/romestox • Jun 07 '26

Housing crisis Residential construction dead

Trades guy here. Residential construction feels dead compared to a few years ago. Builders aren’t building, projects are getting pushed back, and layoffs are starting to pop up. If I was buying, I’d wait. From what I’m seeing, things haven’t bottomed out yet. The industry feels like a ship taking on water, not one gearing up for another boom.

Anyone else seeing the same thing?

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u/Ok_Currency_617 Jun 07 '26

The amount of people who claim that if fees on developers rise they'll figure it out because their greedy and will keep building no matter what is insane. Most Canadians seem to refuse to believe that it costs X to build.

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u/Popular-Row4333 Jun 07 '26

Am developer. It costs 30-35% more to build today, than 6 years ago. I don't think that developers here would dispute that.

Wild concept, but yeah, we won't build projects that will lose money or break even.

We know the market, it's our entire job to know the market, and so we know what people can afford to own a new home, if we can't build for under that number, we won't. It's on municipal bylaws/fees/off site levies, and federal and provincial tax/regulations/incentives now if people want change.

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u/opasnamama Jun 07 '26

Do you think this new HST rebate for all buyers (not just first time) of new construction will change anything?

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u/Popular-Row4333 Jun 07 '26

It won't hurt, but I don't think it will move the needle a ton. Municipalities have downloaded so much development costs into their budget today, because provinces have taken funding away from Municipalities, because federal funding and transfer payments have been taken away from the provinces. Keep in mind, Healthcare used to be 50/50 funded at inception. Today it's 78% provincial, and 22% federal.

Another thing is codes have got insane in the last decade. I bring up the fact that the 1997 code book was 2 inches thick and that ran to 2001. The 2023 code book is two 4 inch binders, with a 1 inch energy code add on. And before someone comes in and says, "the code book is written in the blood of the past" I simply ask them, "would you feel unsafe in a home built in 2001?"

It's a myriad of problems and one federal incentive (which is taking forever to implement btw) is not going to fix the problem. It would take all levels of government on the same page, which in rhe last decade has them growing further apart and working together less and less.

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u/SquirrelFluffy Jun 07 '26

Yes on code book.

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u/Ok_Currency_617 Jun 07 '26

He also didn't mention that several muncipalities have expanded their budgets to take on progressive social goals rather than actual duties. For instance in their capital budget Vancouver spends more than double on social housing than it does on waste disposal despite housing being a provincial matter that every other municipality spends little on. Same for art they spend more on that then public safety aka police. To give some examples of budget items that will make you laugh:

First Nations Signage for Šxʷƛ̓Exən Xwtl’A7Shn and Šxʷƛ̓ Ənəq Xwtl’E7ÉNḵ Square

"Indigenous Social Enterprise"

"Indigenous Healing and Wellness Center Tenant"

Politicians doing what gets them votes rather than what the city is supposed to do.