WHY ARE WE BUILDING SO MANY NEW HOUSES?

Garfield Marks

Published

4 years ago

3 minute read

WHY ARE WE BUILDING SO MANY NEW HOUSES?

Supply and demand would suggest that we stop building or subsidizing the building of new houses. Our population has increased by only 195 residents in 5 years yet we still built 1299 new houses.

Last year our houses depreciated on assessment by 2%, yet we are still building new houses.

We have neighbourhoods with vast quantities of empty lots, yet we are talking about creating more new neighbourhoods.

Our taxes are going to the maintenance and servicing of empty lots. Our buses are driving down lonely nearly uninhabited streets.

COVID-19 is making people look for bigger lots, but instead of destroying farmland, why don’t we redevelop older neighbourhoods with larger lots?

CMHC tells us that our house pricing could decrease by 20% by 2022, and we are building more houses.

Environmentalists warn us about expanding our foot print. Destroying agricultural land, and we are developing new neighbourhoods.

Climate Change due to human emissions from such things as commuting and we are expanding our foot print building new neighbourhoods.

Along with 1299 new homes, that has been built, we the lowly taxpayer had to pay for servicing, transit, schools, service centres, roads, sidewalks, sewers, mowing, lighting etc so 1299 new homes could be built.

Now let us look at the 42,034 houses that were there before. There used to be 2.4 residents per home now we are down to 2.3 residents per home. 4% decrease. Our taxes went up 10% on older homes, in 4 years but we have fewer people paying the taxes. The values, of our older homes, have decreased below inflation, and a realtor told me that houses are selling at about 10% below assessed value.

Supply is out doing demand and we are financing it with our taxes.

We are being told, over and over again, that we are a one-industry town, and CMHC now says, because of that, we could see a 20% decrease in home values over the next 18 months.

So the first question is; why did we not put more emphasis on diversification? Second question is; why did we not build a city for the residents, and not for the oil industry?

COVID-19 saw many people and businesses adapt and change to meet the new demands when the old demands evaporated?

Why not turn our construction over from building new to refurbishing the old?

So back to my original question. With near zero population growth, fewer residents per house, increasing taxes, increasing expenses, increasing commuting, and increased destruction of farmland, why are we building so many new houses? Anyone?

Red Deer’s 2% house depreciation hurts the most, the ones we need the most.

Related Topics:feature Garfield Marks new home construction

Up Next

I Wrote An Open Letter To Prime Minister Trudeau In Response To The Trans Mountain Pipeline

Don't Miss

Changing of the Tides – How One Alberta Company Is Driving Hydrokinetic Power

Garfield Marks

Follow Author

The city is growing? The population isn’t, so is it growing?

Garfield Marks / 1 year ago

Dear Council; Reinstate the Arterial Road connection from 22 St. & 40 Ave. to Molly Banister

Opinion / 1 year ago

Molly Banister extension is before council again on Monday for the umpteenth time. Exhausting.

Automotive

Canadian interest in electric vehicles falls for second year in a row: survey

Published on April 29, 2024

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Canadians’ disinterest in electric vehicles comes as the Trudeau government recently mandated that all new light-duty vehicles in Canada are zero emission by 2035.

Research has revealed that Canadians are increasingly unwilling to purchase an electric vehicle (EV).

According to an April 22 survey from AutoTrader, Canadians remain skeptical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s electric vehicle mandate and ongoing advertisement surrounding electric vehicles, as interest in owning one dropped for a second year in a row.

“Overall, while almost half of non-EV owners are open to buying an EV for their next vehicle, interest in EVs has declined for the second year in a row,” reported Tiffany Ding, director of insights and intelligence at AutoTrader.

In 2022, at least 68 percent of Canadians were interested in buying an electric vehicle. However, by 2023, the number declined to 56 percent. So far in 2024, there is even less interest, with only 46 percent saying they were open to purchasing one.

“AutoTrader data shows a direct correlation to gas prices and EV interest, and since gas prices have normalized from their peak in 2022, EV interest has also dropped,” a summary of the survey explained.

However, Canadians did show a slight increase of interest in hybrid vehicles, with 62 percent of those looking to purchase an electric vehicle saying they would look at a gas-electric hybrid, compared with 60 percent in 2023.

The survey also questioned Canadians regarding Trudeau’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires all new light-duty vehicles in Canada are zero-emission by 2035, essentially banning the sale of new gasoline/diesel-only powered cars.

The mandate comes despite warnings that it would cause massive chaos by threatening to collapse the nation’s power grids.

“Over 75 percent of respondents are aware of the federal government’s ZEV mandate, which requires all new light-duty vehicles sold in Canada to be zero-emission by 2035,” the survey found.

Canadians’ concerns in buying an electric vehicle include limited travel range/distance, inadequate availability of charging stations, higher purchasing costs, and concerns that they do not perform well in cold weather.

Indeed, this winter, western Canadians experienced firsthand the unreliability of Trudeau’s “renewable” energy scheme as Alberta’s power grid nearly collapsed due to a failure of wind and solar power.

Trudeau’s plan has been roundly condemned by Canadians, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. In 2022, Smith denounced a federal mandate that will require all new cars sold after 2035 to be “zero emission” electric (EVs) vehicles and promised that Albertans will always have the choice to buy gasoline-powered cars.

Since taking office in 2015, Trudeau has continued to push a radical environmental agenda similar to the agendas being pushed the World Economic Forum’s “Great Reset” and the United Nations’ “Sustainable Development Goals.”

The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.

The Trudeau government’s electric vehicle plan comes despite the fact Canada has the third largest oil reserves in the world. Electric cars cost thousands more to make and buy, are largely considered unsuitable for Canada’s climate as they offer poor range and long charging times during cold winters and have batteries that take tremendous resources to make and are difficult to recycle.

Business

Ottawa’s capital gains tax hike—final nail in ‘business investment’ coffin

Published on April 29, 2024

Todayville

From the Fraser Institute

By Tegan Hill and Jake Fuss

From 2014 to 2022, inflation-adjusted total business investment (in plants, machinery, equipment and new technologies but excluding residential construction) in Canada declined by C$34 billion. During the same period, after adjusting for inflation, business investment declined by a total of $3,748 per worker

According to the recent federal budget, the Trudeau government plans to increase the inclusion rate from 50 per cent to 66.7 per cent on capital gains over $250,000 for individuals and on all capital gains realized by corporations and trusts. Unfortunately, this tax hike will be the final nail in the coffin for business investment in Canada, which likely means even harder economic times ahead.

Canada already faces a business investment crisis. From 2014 to 2022, inflation-adjusted total business investment (in plants, machinery, equipment and new technologies but excluding residential construction) in Canada declined by C$34 billion. During the same period, after adjusting for inflation, business investment declined by a total of $3,748 per worker—from $20,264 per worker in 2014 to $16,515 per worker in 2022.

While business investment has declined in Canada since 2014, in other countries, including the United States, it’s continued to grow. This isn’t a post-COVID problem—this is a Canada problem.

And Canadians should be worried. Businesses investment is key for strong economic growth and higher living standards because when businesses invest in physical and intellectual capital they equip workers with the tools and technology (e.g. machinery, computer programs, artificial intelligence) to produce more and provide higher quality goods and services, which fuels innovation and higher productivity. And as firms become more efficient and increase profits, they’re able to pay higher wages, which is why business investment remains a key factor for higher incomes and living standards.

The Trudeau government’s policies—increased regulation, particularly in the energy and mining sectors (which makes Canada a relatively unattractive place to do business), higher and uncompetitive taxes, and massive federal deficits (which imply future tax increases)—have damaged business investment.

Unsurprisingly, weak business investment has correlated with a weak economy. In the fourth quarter of 2023, real economic growth per person ($58,111) officially fell below 2014 levels ($58,162). In other words, Canadian living standards have completely stagnated. In fact, over the last decade economic growth per person has been the weakest on record since the 1930s.

Instead of helping fix the problem, the Trudeau government’s capital gains tax hike will further damage Canada’s economy by reducing the return on investment and encouraging an exodus of capital from the country. Indeed, capital gains taxes are among the most economically-damaging forms of taxation because they reduce the incentive to invest.

Once again, the Trudeau government has enacted a policy that will deter business investment, which Canada desperately needs for strong economic growth. The key takeaway for Canadians? Barring a change in policy, you can expect harder times ahead.