Ontario Home Construction has Hit Pause Button: Housing Minister

Ontario Home Construction has Hit Pause Button: Housing Minister
News| August 28, 2025| Monte Stewart
Canada + Apartment Buildings

Ontario’s new-home construction is at a “standstill,” a development that could derail the provincial government’s target of building 1.5 million homes by 2031, the province’s housing minister says.

Rob Flack delivered a stark assessment of the sector while speaking to reporters in London, Ont., where Premier Doug Ford announced $12 million in funding through the province’s Building Faster Fund,

“Potential new-home buyers have hit the pause button,” Flack said. “We’ve seen the housing market come to a standstill.”

Flack’s comments followed a recent RBC report that described Ontario as “the root of the housing crisis” in Canada. Data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows the province recorded a 25% decline in housing starts in July 2025 compared with a year earlier. Nearly every other province saw double-digit gains, except British Columbia, which posted a 4% drop.

With Ontario’s construction outlook weakening, the province has pledged to rework criteria for the Building Faster Fund, which currently ties funding to annual housing starts.

“We will sit down and talk about the criteria for next year’s program,” Flack said.

London Mayor John Morgan urged that municipalities instead be assessed on permits issued.

“Couple of years ago, we did 4,000 permissions per year, the year after that we did 5,000,” he told Global TV. “Last year, council did over 22,000 permissions in this city alone.”

“We have ramped up processes, we’re getting housing permitted, we’re moving barriers and red tape, we’re speeding up our timelines.”

BILD is calling for government intervention after the Greater Toronto Area July new-home sales fell to their lowest point since the early 1990s. Reduced apartment-condominium transactions drove the downward trend.

Photo: Shutterstock

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