This week, realtors in Vancouver are calling for the end of the federal foreign buyer ban, but doubts remain if investors would even return to this slow market. Plus, what will – and won’t – help with Canada’s housing crisis, and one property worth a look.

Everyone knows housing isn’t just a place to live. It’s safety and privacy; it’s also a powerful proxy for how a country at large is doing. As our politicians present very different solutions to solve the housing crisis, Shannon Proudfoot asked Kevin Lee, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, what the biggest obstacles to getting houses built faster in this country are, and which solutions would move the needle.

A growing cohort of B.C. realtors are calling for the federal government to remove the ban on foreign buyers – not scheduled to expire until 2027 – as a way to pull the current housing market out of its slump. But, as Kerry Gold writes, no one in the industry says changing foreign-investor policies is the single magic solution. Almost all are saying it’s one small factor that could help tip the market into some kind of balance and actually encourage more locals back in if they think there’s a bigger pool of potential buyers. The question, though, is whether foreign investors want to come back to Canada and its slowing housing market.

Markets are starting to price in higher odds that the Bank of Canada will lower rates when it convenes at the end of this month. As Salmaan Farooqui writes, another rate cut could bring variable mortgages back to a cheaper level than any available fixed mortgage. Currently, Ratehub.ca shows the lowest available variable-rate mortgage at 3.70 per cent for a five-year term. The cheapest fixed rate is for a three-year term at 3.69 per cent, while the cheapest five-year term sits at 3.89 per cent.

Rates shown are the lowest available for each term/type and category (insured versus uninsured) as of market close on Thursday, Oct. 9.

In Toronto’s west end, sellers are adding listings to a brimming pool of inventory for condos on the waterfront. As investors disappear from the condo market, many first-time buyers are still waiting on the sidelines, waiting for the right time – and property – to show itself. But when too many waterfront condos go up for sale at the same time, sellers can end up hurting their own prospects when listings start to compete with each other. And, as Carolyn Ireland writes, one low-price sale can create the false impression that the price of the whole area is going down. National Bank of Canada senior economist Daren King says potential interest-rate cuts by the Bank of Canada could support real estate in the months ahead, but he remains concerned that Toronto’s deteriorating labour market and the region’s persistent affordability challenges will limit the extent of any rebound.

Cassiar Cannery, Lot 44, Cassiar Dr., Port Edward, B.C. – Full gallery here

Back in 2006, Justine Crawford and her husband bought a salmon cannery that was more than 100 years old at the mouth of the Skeena River. Almost 20 years later, the cannery site founded in 1889 is now converted into a tourist destination. On the site stood a series of mostly abandoned buildings, that have now been restored to life. Partially using lumber that washed up on their waterfront, the buildings were renovated into guest houses – Ms. Crawford lives at the end of the row. If the next buyer wants to keep the tourism business going, there’s a wait-list of people wanting to come and a longer list of people who’ve been and want to come back.