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September 10, 2025 16 mins

In this episode of The Missing Middle, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt dig into Canada’s condo market crash, the rise of “housing shrinkflation,” and what it all means for young Canadians chasing the dream of homeownership. They unpack why falling condo prices aren’t actually fixing the housing crisis, how developers and government policies have fueled the problem, and why middle-class buyers are being left behind. If you’ve been wondering whether Canada is headed for a nation of “forever renters,” this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.


Chapters

00:00 Introduction

02:02 The condo market collapse: an overview

04:03  The impact of shrinkflation on housing

04:54 Ron Butler pop up

07:48 Government policies and middle-class homeownership

11:56 The future of homeownership in canada


Research/links


Sabrina’s Toronto Star column https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-condo-crash-wont-fix-our-housing-problem-in-fact-it-just-might-make-it/article_7c44519f-cdbe-4978-b575-ffc1ef9a76bd.html


New Condo Sales in GTA Hit 3rd-Highest Level on Record in 2019: Report

https://storeys.com/new-condo-sales-gta-2019/


Homeownership rate for City of Toronto:

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/fogs-spg/alternative.cfm?topic=7&lang=E&dguid=2021A00033520&objectId=7 


Toronto condo market is in ‘free fall,’ federal housing minister says

https://www.thestar.com/real-estate/toronto-condo-market-is-in-free-fall-federal-housing-minister-says/article_66c26722-1f22-4b28-bf95-3e98f2e02159.html


Ron Butler: Condo Crash Meets Housing Crisis

https://youtu.be/9xD5veEsB3U?si=-9A-N2jecO8u63N8


Hosts: 

Sabrina Maddeaux https://x.com/SabrinaMaddeaux 

Mike Moffatt https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt https://bsky.app/profile/mikepmoffatt.bsky.social


Producer: Meredith Martin 

https://twitter.com/meredithmartin 

@meredithmartin.bsky.social


Editor: Sean Foreman

@seanegertonforeman

@seanforeman.bsky.social


This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/

Brought to you by the Missing Middle Initiative https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/



Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

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