To say that 2025 is an important year would be a severe understatement. Important to housing markets across Ontario and particularly in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, to homebuyers, builders and pretty much everyone else involved in the housing industry.

But if there’s one group that ought to understand this message the most, it’s government. Of every stripe. Federal, provincial and municipal. Notwithstanding a leadership change in Ottawa and talk of an early election in Ontario, politicians better be paying attention.

Broken system

“The current system is broken.” This is among the strong comments in our Outlook 2025 Special Report. It comes from Richard Lyall, president of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario. He’s underlining the importance that “the grossly inflated, regressive and frankly serious taxes fees and levies on new housing at all levels of government are cut. Plus, a major streaming of the development approvals process is finally imposed. Housing targets absent these measures have no chance of being hit. I think this reality is finally hitting home and will force policy makers to act decisively.”

There are other zingers in our Outlook and elsewhere in this, our first issue of 2025.

“Government taxes, fees and charges, such as DCs, have contributed to a ‘cost to build’ crisis that has undermined the financial viability of new home construction, is stalling residential development and threatening future housing supply across the metropolitan area,” says Dave Wilkes, CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association. “As Toronto, higher orders of government and the industry struggle to address this pressing challenge, it is clear that a fact-based discussion is needed to understand how the fees increased stratospherically and how they impact the cost of new housing. Now is the time to address these spiraling costs.”

Leadership in Vaughan

Thankfully, some governments are paying attention, notably the City of Vaughan, which recently moved to drastically lower development charges. And others parties that are trying to influence action, such as Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie, who proposes to scrap DCs altogether.

Homebuyers needn’t have degrees in political science or urban planning, or even a keen interest in housing policy, to be able to plan and execute their new home purchase.

But the fact is these topics matter, increasingly so. Educating yourself on these influential issues is part of the important information gathering that helps you make informed homebuying decisions.

We hope 2025 truly is your year. It’s also the year that policy makers must get their act – or Acts – together.