Housing affordability continues to be a hot button issue in the Lower Mainland, even as markets are cooling. That’s no surprise.
“Cooling” is a highly relative term. For many middle-class earners, ownership remains prohibitively out of reach.
This week, Premier Christy Clark offered a pre-election perk to young people who have been shut out of the housing market so far: a matching government loan for up to $37,000 to help come up with a down payment.
In a place like the North Shore, that won’t go very far. But it could be enough for some to help get their foot – literally – in the door.
Not everyone loves the plan. Critics have suggested it’s simply helping young people to overextend their debt. Others say B.C.’s program undercuts recent federal moves to tighten mortgage rules. And economists also predict it will only push up housing prices as a larger pool of people compete for the same number of units.
The move comes cynically late in the game. The province stood by and did nothing for years, while reaping the rewards of a soaring housing market, which not-coincidentally also benefitted some of the Liberal Party’s biggest backers.
That doesn’t mean the new program has no merit. It may help alleviate some pressure on our stressed rental stock. And for the few who qualify, it will allow them to start building equity.
For too long, our housing market has lopsidedly relied on cash infusions from wealthy foreigners. Anything that helps real estate once more become a place for local people to live and raise their families is a step in the right direction.
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