Solving Canada’s Housing Crisis Starts With a Reality Check

First-Time Buyers Are Stuck Between “Too Small” or “Too Expensive”

A vibrant housing system needs to include options and opportunity across its spectrum.

In the Comox Valley, and in communities across Canada, there’s a growing number of young professionals with solid educations, reliable careers, and stable incomes who still cannot purchase their first home.

This challenge exists in virtually every local housing market.

Many of these Canadians want to buy. They understand they will likely need to make concessions along the way. That could mean compromising financially, rethinking location, or adjusting personal expectations about the type of home they can afford. Most are realistic about the fact that they may not get everything they want.

The problem is that, increasingly, they can’t find anything that truly works at all.

Realtors have a unique perspective on these challenges because they work directly with buyers navigating the market every day. In some communities, hopeful first-time buyers simply can’t find anything within reach financially. In others, the available options fail to meet their practical needs. In many cases, it’s both.

This is not a new issue. It is the ongoing result of a housing supply crisis Canada has been facing for years.

Building More Isn’t Enough

The response to low housing supply has understandably been focused on one solution: build more.

But reality is proving that building more “units” alone is not a lasting answer. The homes being built must actually align with the needs of the people expected to live in them.

Last year, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) forecasted that 2025 would be a turning point for Canada’s resale market. The expectation was that lower interest rates and improving confidence would bring buyers back into the market after a prolonged slowdown.

Instead, economic uncertainty driven by tariff threats from the United States resulted in another sluggish year.

As Canada looks ahead, the urgency to increase housing supply remains critical. More homes do need to be built, and faster. However, the bigger conversation needs to shift toward what types of housing are actually being developed.

The Rise of Smaller Condominiums

Over the past two decades, small apartment-style condominiums have gradually replaced detached homes as the dominant form of new housing construction in many Canadian markets.

At the same time, these units have become progressively smaller.

For many buyers, especially young families or those planning long-term homeownership, these properties are not realistic forever homes. They may serve as temporary housing, but they often fail to provide flexibility for changing life circumstances.

That leaves many first-time buyers trapped between two impossible choices:

• Buy something too small
• Or stretch financially for something too expensive

Neither option creates a healthy or sustainable housing market.

A vibrant housing system should offer attainable choices that people genuinely want to move into and grow within.

Canada’s Missing Middle Problem

For years, housing experts and planners have discussed the concept of the “missing middle.”

The term was introduced more than 15 years ago, yet Canada’s housing inventory still lacks enough of these practical, attainable housing types.

Missing middle housing includes options such as:

• Semi-detached homes
• Townhomes
• Duplexes
• Larger family-oriented condominiums

These properties often occupy smaller land footprints than detached homes while remaining more functional and attainable than many condominium units currently being built.

They also create flexibility within the housing system itself.

For first-time buyers, missing middle housing can provide an achievable entry point into homeownership. For growing families, it offers more livable space without requiring a detached home. For seniors looking to downsize, it creates alternatives that still feel comfortable and functional.

Increasing these types of housing options helps improve supply while also supporting long-term community stability.

Housing Needs More Than Short-Term Thinking

Canada’s current approach to housing development has become heavily focused on completions and profitability.

But simply maximizing unit counts without considering livability creates long-term problems.

By addressing the missing middle, Canada has an opportunity to shift away from building solely for short-term financial performance and instead build communities that prioritize long-term needs, flexibility, vibrancy, and choice.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney stated at the 2026 World Economic Forum:

“Nostalgia is not a strategy.”

That statement applies to housing just as much as it does to economics or politics.

Many Canadians understandably look back at earlier generations of housing affordability with frustration. But solving today’s housing crisis requires more than longing for what once existed.

It requires coordinated action.

A Shared Responsibility

Governments, industry leaders, real estate professionals, non-profit organizations, and community housing providers all have a role to play in solving Canada’s housing challenges.

Real progress will come from aligning policy, development, infrastructure, and community planning around the actual needs of Canadians today.

This is not about nostalgia or hindsight.

It is about confronting current realities honestly and taking meaningful action on an issue that affects Canadians at one of the most personal levels possible: the ability to build a stable home and future.

Get in touch with me today to learn more about buying and selling in the Comox Valley!