No ‘silver bullet’ on housing, finance minister says as prices soar
TORONTO — Soaring house prices in Toronto have local and provincial governments scrambling to come up with solutions, but Ontario’s finance minister cautioned Wednesday that there’s no “silver bullet.”
Charles Sousa’s comments followed the release of the latest data from the city’s real estate board that showed the average selling price for all properties in the Greater Toronto Area in March was $916,567 — a 33-per-cent jump from the same month last year.
The provincial Liberal government is preparing a package of housing measures that Sousa has said will be included in the budget he is expected to table later this month.
But “there is no silver bullet,” he said, noting that there’s no consensus from stakeholders on how best to proceed.