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Once defined solely by a critical lack of supply, Canada’s housing crisis now faces the compounding challenge of plummeting sales.

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Sales over the past year have dropped in major centres across the country, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), where the housing shortage remains most acute. Home sales in the GTA fell 11.2 per cent in 2025, according to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, and are now down 63 per cent for single-family homes and 89 per cent for condos versus the 10-year average. In January, year-over-year home sales declined by 19.3 per cent.

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Sales aren’t falling because Canadians have given up on homeownership, but because consumer confidence has dipped amid trade tensions and a softening economy. Buyers are also confused by delays in the implementation of government policy, such as the promise to remove sales tax from new homes for first-time buyers.

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If those sales volumes fail to rebound, then housing construction will continue to grind to a halt.

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But Canada can’t afford to stop building — even in a downturn. We simply need more supply of all types of housing too much. We need it for those Canadians who want to buy homes and for those whose jobs are to build them.

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The federal government is already removing its portion of the GST/HST from all new homes for first-time buyers, a measure that has been delayed by the long timeline to pass the legislation. Ontario is also planning to remove its portion of the HST, again only for first-time buyers.

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Housing is an ecosystem and to really get the sector moving, we need to encourage all consumers, not just first-time buyers. Both governments can do this by immediately expanding the GST/HST cut to all new homebuyers, as new polling conducted for Mattamy Homes by Abacus Data in January affirms.

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Specifically, of the 52 per cent of Canadians who intend to purchase a home, one-third say they have delayed buying in the past year because homes are too expensive, according to the survey of nearly 2,500 people. Among these reluctant but active buyers, 59 per cent say an expanded GST rebate would make them more likely to buy.

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Among Canadians who have previously owned or currently own a home, 39 per cent say they would be more likely to buy if the GST rebate were extended to them. The impact is strongest among cost-constrained, non-first-time buyers who want to buy, but have delayed their purchase due to high costs: 79 per cent say the cut would make them more likely to buy a new home.

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In Ontario, the numbers tell a similar story: extending the rebate to all new home buyers would improve sales. In that province, 65 per cent of hopeful buyers say they would be at least somewhat more likely to buy if the HST were eliminated. That jumps to 76 per cent among those who delayed a purchase over cost.

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These Canadians are more than just numbers on a page. They are families in condos that are too small and are delaying having another child because they cannot afford somewhere large enough to accommodate their growing family. They are seniors who would love to move closer to their grandkids and free up their single-family home for a condo in the city. They are people commuting hours each day to work because the cost of moving closer to their job is prohibitive.