Voters head to the polls Tuesday in Nova Scotia, where housing remains a top issue. The governing Tories are promising provincial residents that they would be able to buy a home with as little as 2% down if they're reelected, a debate drawing attention as housing costs remain a topic of discussion across Canada.
As the incumbent party seeks a second term, it is promising to create a first-time home buyer plan through participating credit unions centred on purchases of homes worth up to $500,000.
"I got into politics to solve problems, and while Canada's housing crisis started outside of our province's borders, our government is using every tool at our disposal to protect Nova Scotians today," Premier Tim Houston of the Progressive Conservative Party said at the beginning of the reelection effort. From Toronto to Vancouver, officials have been coming up with ways to deal with higher costs for housing.
Houston called for the early provincial general election months ahead of the fixed July 15, 2025, date that was passed into law when his party defeated the provincial Liberals and was elected in August 2021. His party has a majority, with 34 seats in the 55-seat Nova Scotia House of Assembly.
The Fraser Institute, a Canadian think tank, has said the province should be focusing on growth.
"Nova Scotia had the third-lowest employment earnings among 60 Canadian provinces and U.S. states, down from fourth-lowest in 2010," the group said in an election commentary. "In other words, while the province has grown its population, incomes on a per-person basis are low and dropping relative to peer jurisdictions."
Typically, Canadians need a minimum of 5% down to buy a house and are required to buy mortgage default insurance if they have less than a 20% down payment. The insurance, issued by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and two private companies, is backed by the federal government and protects lenders in case of default.
Home prices jump
Rising homes prices have made homeownership harder in the province. The Nova Scotia Association of Realtors has said home prices have risen more than 75% since October 2019, with the average home price in Nova Scotia jumping to nearly $450,000 in October.
The group, representing 2,100 Realtors in the province with a population of just over one million people, is calling for the province to waive the deed transfer tax for first-time owners. The average transfer tax across the province was $6,345 in 2023.
Another proposal from the Realtors group is to increase Nova Scotia's Down Payment Assistance Program from 5% to 10%. Like others, it has called for more housing supply.
The Progressive Conservatives have pledged to make provincial vacant land available to communities for $1 on the condition the property be developed into affordable housing options.
Provincial Liberal leader Zach Churchill has made no shortage of housing-related promises in his goal of returning the party to power after it won majorities in the Nova Scotia legislature in 2013 and 2017.
The Liberal party platform vows to oversee the construction of 11,000 homes a year and ultimately add 80,000 homes by 2032. The party has also pledged to implement measures to reduce red tape and zoning regulations that make building homes overly difficult.
The Liberals also said they would lower property taxes, build 4,000 non-profit homes by 2032, increase rent controls and offer zero-interest loans to renters in difficulty. They also plan to ban residential leases of over one year, create a body to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants and invest $5 million in senior-housing development.
As for the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party, leader Claudia Chender hopes to revive the magic of 2009 when the party enjoyed its only provincial election victory, winning a massive majority with 45% of the popular vote.
The NDP plans to offer residents who earn less than $100,000 a year the chance to rent one of 500 prefabricated homes it would build in the first year, with rent going toward ownership.
The party also seeks to offer rebates averaging approximately $900 for housing to those with household incomes of less than $70,000. Like the Liberal party, the NDP also vows to launch a new body with authority to enforce landlord-tenant disputes.