Homes of the future and how much they’ll cost

In 50 years, the average home in Toronto will cost $4.4 million, reports TorontoLife.com, compared to the current average of $622,000.

“Yes, it sounds crazy,” says Toronto Life. “But if we’d told people in 1970 that the average cost of a house in Toronto would grow from $30,000 to $600,000 over 50-odd years, they wouldn’t have believed us either.”

Read: CMHC raises red flag over national housing concerns

Toronto Life partnered with the Martin Prosperity Institute to research the housing market and offer a glimpse of the future. And, it found that “Over the past few decades, housing costs in Toronto have risen by an average of 3.5% every year. If demand for housing keeps growing—and it will, since the population is expected to double—so will the prices.”

Check out their breakdown of how much renting and owning will cost in 50 years.

Can Canada’s housing crisis be fixed?

Housing is increasingly unaffordable for Canadians at every income level and the federal government’s plans for a national housing strategy need to include billions more for social housing, says The Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities says wait lists for social housing are growing, and one out of five renters spends more than half their pre-tax salary on shelter.

Especially vulnerable to this issue are newcomers to Canada, indigenous peoples, single moms and seniors living alone.

Read: Help single aging clients

The FCM says Ottawa has opened the door to more federal involvement in fixing the housing crisis by putting forward some funding in the last budget.

But now, the FCM says the housing strategy needs to carve out $12.7 billion over eight years to:

• protect existing social housing;
• prevent homelessness;
• build new units; and
• provide a portable housing allowance to needy renters who can’t find affordable housing.

The Liberal government opened a national consultation on a housing strategy in June. The deadline for submissions is today and the results are to be released Nov. 22, which is national housing day.

Read:

Do celebrity properties sell faster than regular homes?

Banks tighten mortgage rules for non-residents

Canadians prove prudent homebuyers