The cost of a newly constructed home in Ontario will increase by $71,818, on average, by 2030 as a result of the federal government’s stricter energy efficiency regulations for buildings, according to a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.
Crucially, the stricter building regulations will only reduce Canada’s total emissions by 0.9 per cent.
“With housing costs already a major concern for so many Canadians, Ottawa’s new building energy efficiency regulations will increase the cost of housing even more and achieve very little in the way of reduced emissions,” said Ross McKitrick, a Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of Wrong Move at the Wrong Time: Economic Impacts of the New Federal Building Energy Efficiency Mandates.
The study finds that the cost increases are mainly due to a proposal in the federal government’s Building Energy Efficiency (BEE) components of the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) that require energy consumption in new residential buildings be reduced to 65 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030. This will increase the cost of the average new home in Canada by an estimated $55,000, and $71,818 in Ontario.
What’s more, the new regulations will affect the Canadian economy broadly, reducing economic activity by 1.8 per cent, which translates to roughly $1,700 per worker starting in 2026.
In Ontario, the economy will shrink by 2.5 per cent.
“These are very high costs to impose on Canadians at a time when the economy is struggling and housing is already unaffordable for so many people,” McKitrick said.
“Given these new building regulations will only reduce Canada’s emissions by less than one per cent, policymakers should maybe ask whether the costs are worth it.”
McKitrick ,of the Fraser Institute, is precisely right about the gov imposing more nonsense regulations on our builders and consumers, which will hurt the middle class even more. It’s typical of this gov to make these regulations, which do nothing but make it harder for the average person to be a home owner. Is their (gov) goal to eliminate home ownership, car ownership, etc? If you look at their recent policies, you’d have to answer YES to that question.
Hi. I bought a new condo on a noisy busy road in Kingsville. The design uses a lot of window square footage. All the windows face west. The building does not have energy efficient windows. They are the poorest rating I’m sure. There is little sound proofing which is also a bit of hair splitting of a by law which would require better windows if my unit where commercial because I am on a busy road. My unit stays hot even when it’s not hot outside. Another new construction on this same road used energy star windows. My point is that you can’t even trust someone in 2023 to use energy star standards. My appliances aren’t even energy star. This things aren’t even pointed out when I bought it. Most of the units are being rented as they were bought by investors who hoped the unit price would go through the roof. Energy efficient windows would not have added a significant cost to the project.