No, Canada has no restrictions on purely private transactions. In fact, if you accept that the standard method of using realtors is still fundamentally a private transaction, then the majority of transactions are private.
There is a lot of reasonable analysis on the cause of unaffordable housing, despite some of it being contradictory. That tells me that we have no more than a general understanding of the problems.
My own personal opinion is that there are 3 major factors that have combined to create a perfect storm.
Corporatization of high-density, multifamily housing, especially rentals. When the accountants and MBAs are in charge, especially when a single corporation owns large blocks in an area, it’s almost a given that you get predatory pricing.
The financialization of housing, both in the sense of institutional investors and the normalization of the home as a major element of retirement planning. The retirement planning component is particularly insidious, because it shifts the mass perception of housing from being about safe, utilitarian shelter to a being a store of value that can be liquidated at some point in the future.
The neoliberal demand that governments get out of the business of providing a safe environment for citizens to thrive in favour of each person bearing the full responsibility for their own well being regardless of accidents of birth or circumstance has gutted, among other things, social housing.
Taken together, we are forced to operate within a financial market (ie one in which money itself is the product) instead of the goods and services market. In other words, housing is now merely another way to participate in the stock market.
Based on what I can see around me, there are houses and apartments for sale or rent, but not at prices anyone other than an investor or high earner can afford.
You are from the US, so it’s also important to note that we have no such thing as a mortgage that stays at a fixed rate over the full term. The mortgage is either variable rate or must be remortgaged at current rates every few years. Nor do we get to claim any part of our mortgage as a deduction on our income taxes.
I am hazarding a guess that it is 99.99% of people of whom are buying and selling are doing so are attempting to make a profit and must participate in the housing stock market?
And others outside the scope of profit - just those seeking the tangible asset of getting housing - are difficult to keep statistics on.
A media headline can only speak\quote about what numbers statistics it readily knows.
No, Canada has no restrictions on purely private transactions. In fact, if you accept that the standard method of using realtors is still fundamentally a private transaction, then the majority of transactions are private.
There is a lot of reasonable analysis on the cause of unaffordable housing, despite some of it being contradictory. That tells me that we have no more than a general understanding of the problems.
My own personal opinion is that there are 3 major factors that have combined to create a perfect storm.
Taken together, we are forced to operate within a financial market (ie one in which money itself is the product) instead of the goods and services market. In other words, housing is now merely another way to participate in the stock market.
Based on what I can see around me, there are houses and apartments for sale or rent, but not at prices anyone other than an investor or high earner can afford.
You are from the US, so it’s also important to note that we have no such thing as a mortgage that stays at a fixed rate over the full term. The mortgage is either variable rate or must be remortgaged at current rates every few years. Nor do we get to claim any part of our mortgage as a deduction on our income taxes.
I am hazarding a guess that it is 99.99% of people of whom are buying and selling are doing so are attempting to make a profit and must participate in the housing stock market?
And others outside the scope of profit - just those seeking the tangible asset of getting housing - are difficult to keep statistics on.
A media headline can only speak\quote about what numbers statistics it readily knows.