{"id":3055,"date":"2023-06-20T16:32:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T20:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianlending.ca\/brokers\/?p=3055"},"modified":"2023-06-20T16:32:48","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T20:32:48","slug":"can-investors-be-blamed-for-higher-housing-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.canadianlending.ca\/brokers\/can-investors-be-blamed-for-higher-housing-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Investors be Blamed for Higher Housing Prices?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Canadian Housing Statistic Program (CHSP) has highlighted the activities of investors in the housing market. As we have<\/span> noted<\/span><\/a>, there are significant problems in how this data has been categorized. Investors include:<\/span><\/p>\n Most people would not consider government-owned properties, vacation properties, and homes with basement suites when discussing investor activity in housing markets. However, what impact people who own rental properties have on housing costs is a valid question.<\/span><\/p>\n We have seen the House of Commons recently hold a hearing on the <\/span>financialization of housing<\/span><\/a>. These hearings focused on affordable housing and multifamily rentals. While we will consider this issue in a future note, for now, we wanted to see if investors in single family homes are really driving up home prices. Would the Canadian housing market be better off if investors were banned from the market in the same manner as foreign buyers?<\/span><\/p>\n While there has been no Canadian academic research on this topic, two recent studies in the Netherlands and the US have some interesting observations.<\/span><\/p>\n The<\/span> Dutch<\/span><\/a> study looked at how \u201cbuy-to-let investors impact local housing markets and the composition of neighborhoods.\u201d The study was based on a ban on buy-to-let (rental) investments. The researchers found that while the ban increased the share of first-time home buyers, it did not have an impact on house prices. The biggest impact was diversity \u2013 homes rented out were occupied by residents who were younger and less affluent than buyers in the same neighborhood. Moreover, rents increased 4% less in neighborhoods where investors were allowed to buy homes and rent them out.<\/span><\/p>\n\n