There’s a lovely old saying: “A man’s home is his castle.” And for most of history, that’s exactly what a home was—a place of safety, comfort, and family. You bought a house to live in it, raise kids in it, and maybe, if you were lucky, sell it for a bit of profit when you downsized in retirement. It was a home first and an investment a distant second.
But somewhere along the way, that flipped. Today, for a lot of Canadians—especially investors—a home is treated like a stock or a bond. Something you buy not to live in, but to watch appreciate in value. Something you rent out, flip, or hold as a speculative asset. And that shift has had enormous consequences for affordability.
So when did this happen? Well, it didn’t happen overnight. But the seeds were planted back in the 2008 era, when interest rates fell through the floor and money supply expanded rapidly. Cheap borrowing made it easy to buy properties. Investors realised they could leverage low rates to build portfolios of rental units. House prices started rising faster than rents or incomes. And suddenly, housing looked like a can’t-lose investment.
Media and dinner table conversations changed too. Instead of asking “How’s your family?”, people started asking “How’s your property value?” Real estate became a national obsession. TV shows about flipping houses became popular. Parents advised their kids to “get on the property ladder” at any cost. Housing stopped being just shelter and became a wealth-building machine.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with owning a home that grows in value over time. That’s a great thing! The problem is when homes become treated primarily as assets—because then regular families trying to buy a place to live find themselves competing against investors with deeper pockets and different motivations. An investor might be happy to break even on rent if the property appreciates 10% in a year. A family just wants a backyard for their dog.
So how do we fix it? We need policies that gently discourage pure speculation without punishing homeowners. Things like foreign buyer taxes (already in place in BC and Ontario), vacancy taxes, and limits on how many properties an investor can own. We also need to make building new homes easier so that supply can meet both investor and homeowner demand.
Most of all, we need to remember that homes are for people first. Once we put that principle back at the centre, affordability will follow. And that’s a beautiful thing.
Links to Michael Ruge, Affordable Apartments and his Initiatives:
How Michael Ruge Structures Funding for Real Estate Projects
Michael Ruge, Solving the Housing Crisis WITHOUT Urban Sprawl
Michael Ruge and Affordable Apartments: Building a Better Cowichan Valley
