Can't buy a closet

When Andrés Peñaloza and his wife Maria Fernanda Gonzalez first immigrated to Canada from Venezuela more than two years ago, they dreamt of a better life, which included owning a home. But after years of looking to buy something that would be suitable for the family they hope to start in Vancouver, they’ve quit searching.

Tough years ahead for Millennials and Generation Zyklon:

With the average home price in Canada jumping 31.6 per cent year-over-year in March, Peñaloza and Gonzalez are part of a cohort of people under the age of 35 who feel that their dreams of homeownership are increasingly out of reach. These millennial prospective buyers have seen their earnings hammered by two major recessions now.

Note: that's an average. There are places in Canada where houses have nearly doubled in price in one year.

“Back when my mom started out as a young person in Canada, it took five years of full-time work to save a 20 per cent down payment on an average priced home. Today, across the country on average it now takes 14 years,” he said.

At that rate, it will take 70 years to pay off a house. Even for an average salaried couple, that's 35 years of non-stop full-time grinding work to own a house. It's simply not worth it.

Taking a step back, it's astonishing that a country the size of Canada has such a ridiculous real estate market. There is enough viable space in the country to increase the housing space by an order of magnitude. Yet, the supply is artificially limited by policy, the immigration levels are exploding thanks to the Liberals, and the job market is stagnant courtesy of Corona Chan. Most of this misery was largely avoidable.