How Canada’s housing obsession is cannibalizing economic productivity

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Investment,Cent,Lending

Canadians now spend as much per year on renovations and homeownership costs as they do on machinery, equipment and intellectual property

Charles St-Arnaud is chief economist at Alberta Central. The following is adapted from a recent report by the financial institution.

On the flip side, residential investment has diverged from that of the U.S. and Australia since the late 2000s, reaching 8.5 per cent of GDP. This is more than double the comparative figure in the U.S. and more than 3 percentage points higher than in Australia. Most of the increase in Canada is attributable to a rise in renovation and homeownership transfer costs .

For one sector to invest, another sector must save to finance investment. In other words, the availability of funds in an economy is limited and scarce. Even if one sector wants to invest but others are unwilling or incapable of saving and lending funds, investment will suffer.

Investment Cent Lending Sector United States Canada Productivity OECD Norway Denmark

 

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