This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Finance Minister Joe Oliver mentioned in a speech at the Bloomberg Canada Economic Summit in Toronto on Thursday that the federal government does not plan to make any major change to its residential real-estate policy and don’t even intend to privatize the national housing agency within the next decade. The minister said that the government is only monitoring the housing market and isn’t concerned if the recent price gains are unsustainable.
Mr. Oliver stated that “we don’t see a need for an immediate shift in policy,” adding that “but, at a certain point, we may need to make adjustments, and we will as appropriate.” Oliver seemed even more confident than some investors who claim that gains in Canada’s residential real estate market are concerning. Portfolio manager at Fidelity Investments, David Wolf, mentioned earlier on Thursday that “this tide is now going out and we’re left with an overvalued housing market, an over-indebted consumer, and under those circumstances it’s hard to see this ending particularly well,” adding that the market isn’t in a bubble now since “further growth is very limited.”
Meanwhile Oliver’s predecessor, Jim Flaherty, had announced earlier that privatizing Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation was a possibility because its balance sheet had become too large, representing a risk to taxpayers. However, Oliver claims that he thinks the federal government “may be somewhat less of a player” in Canada’s housing market five years from now, alleging that “I wouldn’t say it would be privatized.”
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