Ontario housing measures to deal with speculators, supply, rental issues
TORONTO — Ontario’s highly anticipated package of housing measures is set to be announced Thursday and will take aim at speculators, expedite more supply, tackle rental affordability and look at realtor practices.
The provincial Liberal government has been facing increasing pressure to cool the market in the Greater Toronto Area, where the average price of detached houses rose to $1.21 million last month, up 33.4 per cent from a year ago.
The intention of the package is to “give everyone some breathing space” in a frenzied market, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Wednesday.
“What we’re aiming to do is to bring in some initiatives that will help people in that whole continuum of housing right from rental through to purchasing a home without having unintended consequences,” she said in Ottawa.