Topic hub
Supply gaps, rents, vacancy tightness, and whether new agencies and tax cuts move starts — CMHC and auditor math over housing slogans.
Also browse related tags: #affordability, #CMHC, #supply, #rents
Housing|United States
A final rule in today’s Federal Register lets the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program back properties with one or more income-producing accessory dwelling units and homes designed for home-based businesses such as childcare or crafts. Lenders still cannot count expected ADU rent as borrower income.
Housing|United States
Signed 22 October and published in today’s Federal Register, the order asks the FHFA to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac test proactive cancellation of mortgage insurance using automated home valuations, to make their title-insurance waiver pilot for refinances a nationwide program, and to pass savings to borrowers. It also sets up a task force on manufactured and factory-built homes and tells USDA and VA to cut rates on their direct home loans. Most steps depend on the FHFA director’s judgment and on later agency action.
Data Desk|Canada
Statistics Canada (19 October): the Consumer Price Index rose 3.1% year over year in September, up from 3.0% in August, led by gasoline (+27.8%). Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 2.2%. Prices for food from stores rose 1.7%, the smallest increase since May 2024, but are still 33.0% higher than in September 2020. Fuel oil rose 57.8%. The next release is 16 November.
Policy Watch|European Union
In a 7 October 2026 letter to parliament, Housing Minister Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan said a new boiler alone will no longer meet the building code when an old one is replaced in homes not heading for a heat network. The rule would apply from 2029 at the earliest. Apartments and listed monuments are exempt at first. Who pays, and how much, is still being worked out.
Accountability|Canada
A sourced accountability ledger — deficit math, Bill C-5 fast-tracks, housing delivery gaps, Brookfield ethics optics, and immigration integrity — measured against what supporters say he fixed.
Housing|Canada
CMHC and StatsCan data show completions rising — but not fast enough to close the gap between household formation and new stock in major metros.
Housing|Canada
CMHC Rental Market Survey data show vacancy rates in several metros still well below the ~3% band often associated with balanced markets.
Cost of Living|Canada
Finance tabled the budget on 5 November. Annex 1 projects a $62.3 billion deficit in 2026-27 and $62.5 billion in 2027-28, with the deficit-to-GDP ratio then declining. Day-to-day operating balance turns positive in 2027-28 under the capital-budgeting framework. Public debt charges rise to $85.5 billion by 2030-31.
Accountability|European Union
On 3 November the Dutch cabinet said it is sending a bill to the House of Representatives that replaces Kritische Depositiewaarde (KDW) targets in law with sector emission targets for agriculture, industry and mobility, to be met by 2035. It also adopted the design programme of measures and aims to bring in a computational under-threshold on 1 July 2027 if the package is finalised.
Cost of Living|European Union
Eurostat’s 4 November flash estimate puts euro-area annual HICP at 4.0%, up from 3.8% in September. Energy is expected at 20.8% (18.9% in September); the monthly rate is 0.4%. Full October data are due 18 November. Separately, Statistics Netherlands’ flash puts Dutch CPI at 3.7% and Dutch HICP at 3.3%.
Cost of Living|United States
The Employee Benefits Security Administration’s final rule (91 FR 69092, published today) requires PBMs and affiliated brokers and consultants to disclose their direct and indirect compensation to fiduciaries of self-insured ERISA plans averaging at least 100 participants. Disclosures are due at contracting and every six months, and plans gain annual audit rights. The rule applies to plan years beginning on or after 1 July 2027. Workers do not receive the disclosures themselves.
Cost of Living|Canada
Alberta announced on 30 October that Budget 2027 will replace locally calculated education property tax rates with one provincial rate: $2.65 per $1,000 of assessment for homes and farmland, and $3.98 for non-residential property, locked in every three years. The province estimates owners will save $98.7 million overall in 2027–28. Where the new rate is higher than the current local rate, owners get a one-time transition credit in 2027.
Housing|United States
In a Voluntary Compliance Agreement signed 20–21 October, Multnomah County, Oregon, and its Homeless Services Department agree to remove points for an applicant’s interest in culturally specific services within seven days and to rename “English as a second language” as “language barriers”. They must rescore pending households and reset Priority Housing Pool thresholds. The county denies the allegations, and the agreement is not a HUD finding.
Debt & Fiscal|Canada
The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s October outlook (20 October) projects a $63.3 billion deficit this year, peaking at $70.2 billion in 2027-28 and still $67.8 billion in 2030-31. New measures since June, led by the $36 billion Productivity Mega Deduction, cost $52.6 billion over five years and outweigh the extra revenue from higher prices. Debt charges climb from $59.3 billion to $83.0 billion. The same day, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he will table Budget 2026 on 5 November.
Policy Watch|United States
After granting more 2025 small refinery exemptions than it had projected, EPA is co-proposing two ways to put the extra 770 million RINs back into the 2026 and 2027 Renewable Fuel Standard obligations. EPA estimates the change adds less than one cent a gallon to gasoline and diesel. Comments are due 4 December 2026; a virtual hearing is set for 4 November.
Cost of Living|United States
IR-2026-122 (14 October 2026) says the IRS will not impose section 6715 penalties when dyed diesel is sold for or used on U.S. highways. Relief is retroactive to 1 October and runs to 31 December 2026; federal fuel-tank inspections for on-road dyed fuel are suspended for that window. The agency still says it will issue further guidance on postponing the backup diesel taxes under 26 U.S.C. 7508A — that piece is not in this release. State fuel taxes are unaffected.
Cost of Living|Canada
A Parliamentary Budget Officer cost estimate for Bill C-38, published 8 October 2026, puts the cost of suspending federal fuel excise taxes from 20 April 2026 to 31 January 2027, then halving them to 31 March, at $4.943 billion in 2026-27. Average savings are $276 per family, from $132 in the lowest income quintile to $468 in the highest. The House has agreed to sit until midnight on 19 October to deal with C-38.
Cost of Living|Canada
The first opposition day of the fall sitting, 6 October 2026, is a Conservative motion calling on the government to eliminate all taxes on diesel consumption until at least Canada Day, permanently eliminate taxes on diesel production, and fast-track refineries, pipelines and storage. The vote must be held by 5:30 p.m. It is non-binding, and it does not say which taxes it means. Update, 8 October: the House negatived the motion on 7 October, 133–196.
Accountability|Canada, United States
Presidential Proclamations 11061, 11062 and 11063 exclude specified Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motor-vehicle products from importation into the United States effective 29 September 2026 at 12:01 a.m. ET — escalating from the prior 50% Section 338 duties. CBP is rejecting covered entries in ACE. Distinct from steel tariffs that Stelco cited when idling Hamilton cold-rolled lines.
Data Desk|Canada
The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s 24 September 2026 note on the Operating Budget Fiscal Anchor projects balance in 2029–30, one year after Budget 2025’s 2028–29 target and two years after the prime minister’s 15 September claim of a 2027–28 path. Granular Finance attributions of “operating” vs “capital” look contradictory in places.
Accountability|Canada
Élections Québec set polling day for 5 October 2026. In the final Radio-Canada leaders’ debate (23 September), parties restated permanent-immigration thresholds from 35,000 (PQ) to 70,000 (Québec solidaire), with CAQ and Conservatives around 45,000 — while Liberals kept a capacity-range hedge.
Data Desk|Canada
The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s 4 June 2026 Economic and Fiscal Outlook projects the deficit rising from $36.3 billion (2024–25) to $72.0 billion (2025–26), with debt-service reaching 13.1% of revenues and under a 1% chance the deficit/GDP ratio declines every year through 2030–31.
Data Desk|Canada
Statistics Canada’s August 2026 CPI (released 14 September): all-items +3.0% year-over-year; food from stores +2.8% — first time since July 2024 below headline. Food from stores is still about +29.0% since August 2021. Next release: 19 October 2026.
Policy Watch|Canada
Federal gas (−10¢/L) and diesel (−4¢/L) relief now runs into early 2027. Against $2.75+/L diesel, truckers and analysts call the diesel cut symbolic.
Economy & Jobs|European Union
About 65% of ver.di members rejected ZDS’s offer; a fresh ballot through 1 October needs 75% to authorise indefinite action at Hamburg, Bremerhaven and other ports.
