Potential home buyers in cities with white-hot real estate markets got some relief in Tuesday’s federal budget with an incentive program that could lower mortgage payments for households making less than $120,000 per year. Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government was trying very carefully to tweak policy to create more first-time home buyers without juicing the market too much. The money from the incentive program would eventually need to be repaid, but details about that process were not released. Housing affordability is a key issue for the Liberals ahead of an expected election campaign in October. The government is also launching a “housing supply challenge” which will encourage municipalities and other organizations to “propose new ways to break down barriers that limit the creation of new housing.” About $300 million is earmarked for those initiatives.

Source: National Post March 19, 2019 20:31 UTC