Through the Roof

In Canadian cities in which the market price around the world shows that government policies of new housing is more than 20 percent higher than limiting the supply of housing are among the key the cost of construction, we estimate that, because causes of higher house prices. [...] We • the share of each municipality’s land that is zoned will now investigate the effect on single-family for agriculture; house prices due to five potential barriers (see • the share of each municipality’s land that is Table 2 for a summary of the average and worst designated for the Greenbelt; and municipality in Ontario on each metric, and Box 1 • whether a municipality is subject to the Growth [...] To assess the economic cost of these policies, income of its residents or the share of land dedicated we calculate the relationship between the price of to agriculture. [...] The Greenbelt extends from the Niagara Region to surround the majority of the existing development to the North and East (Figure 3). [...] We also estimate the effect if each city the greatest effect on municipalities with a large lowered the amount of agricultural and Greenbelt share of land zoned for agriculture: over $20,000 land to the provincial average, and without being in Hamilton and in the Durham and Niagara subject to the Growth Plan (Table 4).