In two weeks, Canadians will go to the polls to vote on a new federal government.
Now is a vital time for candidates to be quizzed on what they will do in many areas, including real estate and the shortage of affordable housing.
Here is what the nation's realtors are being encouraged to do:
• ask political parties, at rallies or in door-to-door visits, to place conditions on federal infrastructure investments to encourage new construction
• increase the non-refundable tax credit for first-time home buyers — currently $750 — to address rising closing costs they have to pay, and re-define “first-time home buyer” to include single parents and/or displaced homemakers who only owned a home with a former spouse, which the U.S. has done
• bring mortgage lending practices into the 21st century, a century in which the labour market has more short-term contracts and freelance jobs compared to permanent jobs (called the “gig” economy)
• request a commitment from the feds to work more closely with regional governments to address their particular housing shortages
• make further changes to the Stress Test by recognizing that just as real estate markets vary across the country, policies and programs that affect real estate markets also vary
• allow existing mortgage holders to be exempt from the stress test when renewing
• re-introduce 30-year amortizations for insured mortgages to assist first-time home buyers