Housing affordability has overtaken trade tensions as Canadians’ top economic concern, according to the latest consumer expectations survey from the Bank of Canada.
The U.S. trade conflict, which dominated sentiment a year ago, now ranks well behind concerns about inflation, job security and emerging risks tied to artificial intelligence.
“What’s really interesting over the last few months is that [President] Trump has actually really receded from the list of issues that Canadians are concerned about,” CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos said at the CMBA Ontario Annual Conference and Trade Show in Toronto. “Now the big concern is jobs and the economy and affordability; those have risen back up to the top of the list.”
The shift marks a reversal from a year ago, when the U.S. trade conflict dominated Canadians’ economic concerns. Though trade talks will ramp up through the summer months as free trade negotiations with the United States and Mexico kick off, Canadians remain focused on more immediate concerns, and Prime Minister Mark Carney appears to have taken notice.
“People are worried about what we do in response to Trump, but they’re worried about that in a domestic context right now above all else,” says Kapelos. “That’s why I think the announcements are all about housing, the messaging is all about affordability, and I think that will be the key message in next week’s economic statement.”
Ottawa responds to cooling housing market
With Canadians increasingly focused on domestic economic concerns, the Carney-led Liberal government appears to be moving with urgency on housing affordability.
“They kind of already laid out what their plan is. The problem for them is it’s not doing, just like it was with the last government, what they said it would be doing, which is significantly, drastically impacting supply,” says Kapelos. “They want to double supply, and it’s just not happening, so I’m curious to see what more they feel they can put in the window there.”
One of the clearest examples of a housing policy change with limited impact on supply was the removal of GST for first-time buyers purchasing new homes under $1 million. At the time, the opposition argued the measure should be expanded to all new builds, not just those bought by first-time buyers.
“I asked the housing minister, and at the time he said ‘Well, that’s a big change, that’s a sweeping change, let’s see if the other stuff works first,’” Kapelos said.
A year later, the Liberal government has taken that additional step, working with the Ontario government to extend the HST rebate to all buyers of new homes in the province. “They’re doing something that they were hesitant to do because the other stuff isn’t having the desired impact,” says Kapelos.
Whether this broader policy will move the needle remains an open question, as the announcement was accompanied by few specifics, at least for the portion of the rebate provided by the federal government.
“The interesting part of this announcement — which is potentially very consequential — a few weeks ago is that nobody really provided anybody with the details,” Kapelos says. “I couldn’t tell you, after asking multiple times, how this is going to work, who it’s going to apply to, at what point it kicks in, how retroactive it is on the federal side.”
Part of the delay reflects the need to put changes to the Canadian tax code through formal legislation, a process that can take time even with a majority government.
Affordability overtakes trade concerns
Adding to the pressure are higher gas prices driven by the conflict in Iran and renewed concerns about inflation—and potentially interest rates—leaving the federal government with more work to do to shore up economic sentiment.
If Canadians expect home prices to keep falling while other costs continue to rise, few are likely to move ahead with a purchase.
“On the demand side of the ledger, when we’re all sitting here going ‘oh god, prices are going to go up’ and the economy is basically on hold, that’s what Bank of Canada governors call the perfect storm,” she says. “What is that going to do to the mindset of people who are dying to buy a home, even with all this other stuff being done on the supply side?”
Even with the renegotiation of the Canada–U.S.–Mexico Free Trade Agreement approaching and tariff threats still weighing on some sectors, Kapelos says the federal government now appears squarely focused on affordability.
“If I look back on most of the media conferences the Prime Minister has had in the last month, they have been around housing,” she says. “Which says to me that heading into the fall economic statement next week, heading into the summer, there seems to be a higher level of cognizance that affordability is rising as an issue of concern for Canadians, and Trump is receding on that list.”
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Last modified: April 24, 2026