Housing in Canada

 
 
 
 
 

Vocabulary

 

list	term (3)	grow up (2)
sale (2)	consider	know/knew/known
shy	campaign	sell/sold/sold
reach	pass (3)	out of reach
condo	probably	with each passing day
rent	ongoing	see/saw/seen
bid (2)	blind (2)	affordability
last (2)	take place	take/took/taken
offer (2)	decision	in terms of
price	thing (2)	as much as possible
put in	jump (2)	drive/drove/driven (2)
afford	impulsive	bring/brought/brought
median	purchase	put/put/put
recent	keep (2)	property (2)
federal	master (3)	conservative (2)
own	as well as	keep up with
election	democracy	grow/grew/grown (2)
kind of	raise (2)	get/got/got-gotten
income	conducive	bad/worse/worst
past (2)	just shy of	find/found/found
seem	supply (2)	build/built/built
out of	scratch (2)	think/thought/thought (2)
supply	privilege	make/made/made
drive up	relatively	feel/felt/felt (2)
rate	interest (2)	competitive
limited	available	demand (2)
still (2)	advantage	approximately
play (3)	play a part	investment
ratio	solid (2)	high/higher/highest
G-7	budget (2)	go/went/gone (2)
amount	simply put	disposable income
basis	match (3)	combination
dispose	steep (2)	start from scratch
save up	issue (3)	put away (2)
average	payment	down payment
require	major (2)	pay/paid/paid
wealth	capital (2)	buy/bought/bought
price	whatever	community
have to	sound (3)	transparency
	long term	competition

 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

This is a house in Toronto. It has two bedrooms and one bathroom. It was listed for sale last summer for just shy of one million dollars. If that seems like a lot, you should know that it sold for eight hundred thousand dollars more than that.

That’s just one property, in a housing market that’s becoming more out of reach for many Canadians with each passing day.

Ryan Birks, In the Market: “I’ve probably seen like between 15 to 20 condos like approximately.”

After renting for seven years Ryan is nearing a purchase of a condo in Toronto.

Ryan Birks, In the Market: “There’s a lot of like blind bidding as an example that takes place; you know there are other bidders, but there’s no transparency in terms of what the other bidders are actually offering. There’s a drive to to bring up prices as much as possible.

So you kind of have to blindly put in an offer without knowing what your competition.”

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Housing affordability was a big issue during the recent federal election campaign.

Conservatives: “The supply of homes, to own as well as to rent, is not keeping up with our growing population.

New Democrats: “Over the past six years things have just gotten so much worse. People cannot find a home that’s in their budget.”

Liberals: “It’s not okay that the communities you grew up in aren’t in places you can build a life, raise a family or grow old.”

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Ryan Birks, In the Market: “I think there’s still a ways to go to actually make it affordable and I say that as someone who considers himself privileged: I have a master’s in education.

I feel like I have a relatively solid job. So I have a lot of you know advantages and it’s still very competitive.”

A combination of low interest rates, limited housing supply and ongoing foreign investment have all played a part in driving up prices.

Canada has the highest house price to income ratio out of any G-7 country. The amount of disposable income the average Canadian has available is no match for what the housing market demands.

This year has seen housing affordability in Canada take its steepest dive since the mid-1990s.

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

 
Let’s say you’re starting from scratch: you make the median income and want to put away some money every month to save up for a down payment.

In Toronto putting away ten percent (10%) monthly it would take you more than 26 years. in Vancouver it’ll take you even longer 34 years to save up for a down payment

Simply put, buying a house in these major Canadian cities requires more capital and more wealth than simple monthly savings.

The average price of a Canadian house has jumped 13% since this time last year but median incomes haven’t nearly kept up.

Ryan Birks, In the Market: “You’re just doing whatever you can to get into the housing market. But it’s not really making like sound. It’s not conducive to making sound informed decisions.

It’s kind of very impulsive and I don’t think that’s really healthy on like a long term basis.

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Questions

House, Home. In Toronto, Canada, with a million dollars ($1 million) you can buy a luxurious mansion. True or false

Rent. Is there a great demand for housing in Toronto? In Toronto, is there a lot of competition for houses?

Buy, Purchase. The main issue for politicians is the economy and jobs. Is this entirely right, mostly right, partially right, largely wrong or completely wrong? In Canada, are only the Left concerned about housing? In Canada, do only liberals care about affordable housing?

Real Estate, Property. Is Ryan Birks a working-class Toronto resident. Does he have a part-time job in retail and a restaurant?

Down Payment. Why is housing so unaffordable in Toronto? Is it because people are lazy, unskilled and uneducated?

Loan, Borrow, Lend. If people simply saved money, instead of wasting it on partying, drinks, cigarettes, fancy clothes, cars and restaurants, then anyone could afford a house. Is this correct or incorrect?

Mortgage. Are houses in Canada getting cheaper, more expensive or remaining the same?

Interest Rate. Is Ryan Birks optimistic, pessimistic, both, neither or in between about the housing market?
 
 
 

Monthly Installment. Why do you think housing is so expensive in many parts of the world?

Tenant, Landlord, Landlady. Describe the housing situation in your town, city and country. Is housing affordable for everyone or most people?

Eviction. What was it like in the past? Has the situation changed from your parents’ or grandparents’ time?

Foreclosure, Repossess. Is there a “conspiracy” at work?

Appreciation, Depreciation. Is housing a big problem or concern? Do many people talk about? Is it a major topic among politicians, journalists, academics and experts?

Remodel, Renovate, Restore, Redecorate. What might happen in the future?

Property Flipping. What could or should people, governments and businesses do?