Dupuis: Enhance Rebates to Make Housing More Affordable

February 13, 2010

Stephen Dupuis

There have been mixed signals coming from federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty as he prepares for the next budget.

At times over the last few months, Flaherty has said the budget will not be stimulative; but after his meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that seemed to change.

At one point, Flaherty also mused about cooling down the housing market by increasing the minimum down payment and/or reducing the maximum mortgage amortization period should a housing bubble begin to form. More recently, Flaherty has said he has no plans to artificially slow down the market.

Meanwhile, the extension of the Home Renovation Tax Credit has been on and off again depending on the direction for the budget itself.

I have three suggestions for Flaherty, which could go a long way toward enhancing housing affordability and creating jobs.

First, while I doubt the finance minister would go out of his way to actively kill jobs, I'll say once more that he should not, under any circumstances, mess with a good thing by trying to slow down the housing market.
http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/columnsblogs/article/763602--dupuis-enhance-rebates-to-make-housing-more-affordable