Canada likely to miss its housing targets, PBO finds

OTTAWA—The Parliamentary Budget Officer said Tuesday the government is narrowing the housing gap, but Canada is still on pace to be short nearly 700,000 homes by the year 2035.

By the PBO’s estimates, if the country could close that gap it would restore vacancy rates to normal levels, putting less pressure on home prices and slowing their rise, but it would not meet housing affordability targets the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has set.

The report finds that immigration changes the government implemented over the last year will reduce housing demand as fewer people come to Canada. The Liberals reduced Canada’s targets for permanent residents in 2025 and 2026 and cut the number of temporary residents and international students that would be permitted to come to this country.