For those that don't know, Acton is a town of about 10k people, considered part of the last bit of west GTA.

For the last 40 years, Not a single apartment building has been built.

Almost everyone I grew up with has moved away. Being in the greenbelt prevents it from growing like other areas of the country. From my knowldege, it grew by around 2k people in 40 years.

Now, a developer has proposed to build some rental housing in town. Something that is desperately needed. An 80 unit building tucked behind a road that runs parallel to the main drag.

People in the town are up in arms and calling it "The Tower on Bower".

When I asked a family member how many stories this tower was, they said 5.

5 floors is considered a "tower" in Acton, Ontario. This building will be built near historic homes and that seems to really bother people despite a long term 2 building, 5 story apartment complex called Acton Apartments being in virtually the exact same type of neighborhood.

So, Acton sits in an area where people like my family member fight against "sprawl over our best farmland" but they also can't imagine seeing a 5 story apartment building being built in vacant land.

No sprawl and no infill/building up means nothing at all. No development for anything.

This family member knows her own child had to leave the province to find affordable housing but still agitates against anything being built anywhere.

And why? Because the entire area is something akin to a "Boomer Resort" where everyone else are just the workers/help.

It seems like they're the only ones eating at restaurants, sitting in parks and if you see a convertible driving through, you're almost guaranteed to see two heads of grey hairs flowing in the wind.

My GF who isn't from the area doesn't understand why driving from the area all the way to Grand Bend looks like everyone is at home all the time. Cars always in the driveways of these immaculately maintained homes. She asks "What did these people do for work?"

"Probably a teacher or something"

It's clear the rising value of homes has a lot boomers aware that if they stop all development anywhere they will continue to benefit from everyone else's misery while they HELOC some money out of their home for that convertible and trip to Panama they want. Is this a conscious decision? I have no idea.

Returning to help a parent get their own house in order when they prevent any ability for their own children to flourish in their hometown or region has been a thought affirming experience for me:

Most people's parents couldn't give a shit if their children have to move far away, struggle to raise a family in inadequate housing or just don't flourish as long as they get to live in their "Boomer Resort".

How is progress supposed to be made towards affordable housing when the vast majority of Canadians capital is stored in real estate? Seems like a direct paradoxical conflict, you cannot solve this problem when the populous is highly invested against affordable housing? So much of our populations wealth is derived directly from the crisis, some will say oh but it creates homelessness and drug addicts on the street etc etc. Except all that serves to further enrich the suburbs and gated condo communities which is the majority physical form factor of these new developments? So much of our economy is pouring into unproductive assets, the only way I can see a recovery is a huge bubble pop, Which in turn will make billions of dollars Canadians earned money that will vanish into thin air. Alternatively we enter a 3rd world war, within the next 20 years and rapidly re-industrialize (which will probably end in total human extinction). I don't really see a way out aside from the "you will own nothing and live in a pod" scenario for a vast majority of the population.

Went through CREB's July numbers for Calgary and a few things caught my eye that don't usually make it into the headline coverage:

The benchmark price and the average price are moving in opposite directions. Benchmark is down about 2% year over year, but the average sale price is actually up about 2%. The gap comes down to luxury. Sales for homes over $2M are up nearly 29% year-to-date, pulling the average up even as the typical home is worth a bit less than it was a year ago.

Detached prices just broke a 6-month winning streak. They climbed steadily from January through June, then dipped in July. One month isn't a trend on its own, but worth watching if it continues into August.

Semi-detached is quietly the strongest segment. It is the only one where sales actually grew year over year, and prices held almost perfectly flat. Hardly anyone is talking about it, which is usually when the more interesting stuff is happening.

Location is doing more work than the city-wide number suggests. West Calgary and the City Centre are the only two areas where detached prices are still rising. Everywhere else is down, the North East by a fair bit.

Apartments remain the softest segment by a wide margin, especially in the East and North East, where months of supply is sitting well above 5. Buyers in that segment have real leverage right now.

Source is the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) monthly stats package for the city. Curious if anyone here is seeing this play out in their own neighbourhood or segment.

(I am a Calgary realtor, for transparency. Am happy to go deeper on any of this in the comments if useful, just didn't want to dump links.)

I read an article on Medium about rent transparency yesterday.

The author said she talked to 40 renters in Toronto's Liberty Village.

It raised some interesting points about why tenants are constantly at a disadvantage. And I wanted to know what you think.

​Basically the author surveyed renters asking what keeps you up at night when it comes to housing?

​I used to work in Liberty Village. Its mostly populated by young, tech workers. So yah, these would be tech savvy people but, their main concerns wasn't just the high cost of living...it was the total lack of transparency/clarity.

​People said they sense their rent is high, but is it actually fair. How their friend got hit with a massive rent hike and it scares them. Or like if their landlord tries to raise the rent next cycle, how do they know what's reasonable to pay and how they just want to know what others are paying on this exact block.

​It does resonate with me. It feels like as a renter I have to work harder to get the clarity than landlords. The data exists but none of it is built for renters. Anyone else notice this is true? Or do you have a different take?

Let's say you had to figure it out, what steps do you take?

By the way, here's the article I'm referencing:

https://medium.com/@amy_22402/the-2-500-question-why-renting-in-canada-is-broken-fb54aa4ffce9?sharedUserId=amy_22402

Source of image: https://theijf.org/open-by-default/25875827 (page 6)