Skip to content
CMHC Home Canada Mortgage
and Housing Corporation
  • Sign In or Register
  • Français
  • MENU
MENU
× Français
  • Home
  • Professionals
    • Project funding and mortgage financing
      • Funding programs
        • Affordable Housing Fund
        • Affordable Housing Innovation Fund
        • Apartment Construction Loan Program
        • Canada Greener Affordable Housing
        • Community (social) housing
        • Federal Lands Initiative
        • Funding for Indigenous housing
        • Housing Supply Challenge
        • Innovation and research
        • National Housing Strategy Project Profiles
        • Rapid Housing Initiative
      • Mortgage Loan Insurance Products
        • Homeowner and Small Rental Mortgage Loan Insurance
          • CMHC Purchase
          • CMHC Improvement
          • CMHC Income Property
          • CMHC Refinance
          • CMHC Newcomers
          • CMHC Self-Employed
          • CMHC Portability
          • Eco Products for Lenders
        • Multi-Unit and Rental Housing
          • MLI Select
        • Default, claims and properties for sale
        • Underwriting centre
        • emili
        • NHA approved lenders
        • Calculating GDS / TDS
        • How to recognize and report mortgage fraud
        • Contact mortgage loan insurance
        • Insured Mortgage Purchase Program (IMPP)
      • Securitization
        • NHA Mortgage Backed Securities
        • Canada Mortgage Bonds
        • Canadian registered covered bonds
        • Blockchain in the housing industry
    • Housing markets, data and research
      • CMHC Reports Calendar
      • Housing markets
        • Housing market reports
        • Mortgage market and consumer reports
        • Fall 2024 Rental Market Report
      • Housing research
        • Consultations
          • Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act
            • Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act – Frequently asked questions
        • Housing research reports
        • Housing surveys
          • Mortgage consumer surveys
        • Research awards and scholarships
        • Understanding core housing need
        • Collaborative Housing Research Network
      • Housing data
        • Data tables
          • Household characteristics data
          • Housing market data
          • Mortgage and debt data
          • Rental market data
        • Housing market information portal
        • Residential Mortgage Industry Data Dashboard
        • CMHC licence agreement for the use of data
        • Housing Knowledge Centre
    • Industry innovation and leadership
      • Housing innovation
      • Our Partners
        • Partnerships
        • Federal, Provincial and Territorial Forum on Housing
      • Industry collaboration
        • Expert Community on Housing (ECoH)
      • Industry expertise
        • Affordable housing
        • Indigenous housing
        • Senior housing
        • Accessible and adaptable housing
        • Developing sustainable housing
        • Resources for mortgage professionals
        • CMHC newsletters
    • Events and speakers
      • Conferences
        • 2024 National Housing Conference
          • About
          • National Housing Conference - Agenda
          • Location
          • InnoZone
          • Details for participants
      • Speakers’ bureau
        • Kevin Hughes
  • Consumers
    • Buying a home
      • Homebuying calculators
        • Mortgage calculator
        • Affordability calculator
        • Debt service calculator
      • Buying guides
        • Homebuying step by step
        • CMHC's condominium buyer's guide
      • Mortgage loan insurance for consumers
        • What is CMHC mortgage loan insurance?
        • Do I qualify for mortgage loan insurance?
        • CMHC mortgage loan insurance costs
        • CMHC's Eco Products
          • CMHC’s Eco Improvement
          • CMHC Eco Plus
        • CMHC — home renovation financing options
        • FAQs — mortgage loan insurance
      • Incentives for homebuyers
      • Newcomers
      • The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive
    • Owning a home
      • Manage your mortgage
        • Mortgage fraud
        • Mortgage planning tips
        • Plan and manage your mortgage
        • Your credit report
        • Your home value
      • Aging in place
        • Housing options for Seniors
        • Housing and finance tips
        • Mortgage financing options for people 55+
        • Preventing fraud and financial abuse
    • Renting a home
      • I want to rent
        • Things to consider before renting
        • Types of housing for rent in Canada
        • Finding or advertising a rental property
        • Visiting the rental property
        • Lease and rental agreements
        • Signing the lease
        • Credit checks and bad credit
        • Rental payments and deposits
        • Roommates and pets
      • I am renting
        • Moving day
        • Landlord/Tenant responsibilities
        • Inspections
        • Maintenance and repairs
        • Complaints and evictions
        • Rent increases
        • When you can't pay rent
        • Renewing or terminating the lease
        • Moving out
      • One-Time Top-Up to the Canada Housing Benefit
      • COVID‑19: eviction bans and suspensions to support renters
  • About CMHC
    • CMHC’s goals, values and commitment to housing
    • Discover Life at CMHC
    • Management and governance
      • Speakers’ bureau
      • CMHC's Annual Public Meeting
      • CMHC’s board of directors and committees
      • Our management committee
      • Pension governance
        • Pension overview
        • Key roles and responsibilities
        • Annual reports
    • Corporate reporting
      • CMHC’s 2023 Annual Report
      • Program evaluation
      • Quarterly financial reports
      • Joint auditors special examination report to CMHC board 2018
      • CMHC’s Insured Mortgage Deferral
      • Corporate Plan Summary
      • Transparency
        • Access to information and privacy protection
        • Accessibility at CMHC
        • Accessibility feedback process
        • Briefing materials
        • Procurement
          • Vendor Diversity Program
        • Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures
    • Contact us
      • Contact mortgage loan insurance
      • Regional offices
      • Granville lsland
      • Indigenous and the North Housing Solutions
      • National office
      • Holiday service hours
  • Media Newsroom
  • National Housing Strategy
    • What is the strategy?
      • About the initiatives
      • How to apply
      • Help and resources
      • Priority areas for action
      • The National Housing Strategy Glossary of Common Terms
      • The Strategy in Action
    • Federal/Provincial/Territorial housing agreements
    • Other funding and financing opportunities
  • The Housing Observer
  • Canada’s Housing Podcast
  • Careers
  • Housing Knowledge Centre
 
  • Home
  • The Housing Observer
  • Government Charges on Residential Development
  • Save
  • Share

Government Charges on Residential Development in Canada

July 5, 2022

Save Icon

SAVE TO MY FOLDER

Government Charges on Residential Development in Canada

SAVE
Close this Window   |   Manage my Folder
Save Icon

SAVE TO MY FOLDER

Government Charges on Residential Development in Canada

Done Done!
Close this Window   |   Manage my Folder
Share icon

Share via

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • print
  • CopyLink

SuccessCopyLinkVersionLink copied

Share icon

Share via

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • print
  • CopyLink

SuccessCopyLinkVersionLink copied

share icon

Mail-blue Share via Email

Did You Know?

You can include an email signature?

Register | Sign In

×
Google Captcha Loader
share icon

Mail-blue Share via Email

Done Done!
Close this window

CMHC’s Housing Market Insight Report: Government Charges on Residential Development in Canada's Largest Metropolitan Areas explores how government charges impact construction costs within and across Canada’s largest metropolitan areas: Vancouver, Toronto, and Montréal.

Housing supply is a key issue in Canada’s housing affordability crisis

Housing affordability is a complex, multi-faceted issue. It can’t be solved with one solution. But, we can look at different problems and solutions one at a time to gain a better understanding of the challenges. This can help advance holistic approaches to addressing housing affordability.

This Housing Market Insight report, Government Charges on Residential Development in Canada's Largest Metropolitan Areas, builds on our understanding of government charges and input costs associated with producing new housing.

There are several costs — like land and construction — associated with producing new housing. Some input costs are the fees levied by governments. The collection and administration of such fees introduce 2 main challenges:

  1. These fees add a direct cost to the production of housing.
  2. Government fees may add complexity and uncertainty to the development process as construction timelines hinge upon the successful collection of fees.

This insight examines the number, complexity and cost of government fees for 6 development scenarios in Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal. These census metropolitan areas have seen the highest housing demand and affordability pressures in Canada — especially Toronto and Vancouver, where affordability challenges have been ongoing.

Understanding cost variations across municipalities, dwelling types and tenures may identify examples of policies that result in housing being supplied at a lower cost.

This understanding may result in lower fees and simpler processes that reduce risk and uncertainty in the development process. The findings or practices uncovered in this insight may inform policy makers and be adapted to other jurisdictions.

Housing price reflects the equilibrium of supply and demand

In this study, we focused on the supply side. This means all input costs involved in developing the housing unit were examined. These input costs can be broadly categorized as follows:

  • land costs
  • hard construction costs
  • soft construction costs
  • developer profit
  • government charges

Defining government charges on new development

Government charges for new development have a variety of purposes.

Some are designed to recover the cost of providing services to the new building — like water and sewer — while others are used to raise revenue for broader amenities or public goods in the community.

In this report, government charges are broadly categorized as follows:

  • warranty fees
  • municipal fees
  • development charges
  • density payments
  • permit fees

These charges vary by jurisdiction and should not be considered an exhaustive list.

These charges represent one of the few channels for municipalities to raise revenues.

Lowering input costs — specifically government charges — would require broader changes by municipalities to maintain the current level of municipal services.

Highlights from our analysis include:

  • The number and magnitude of government charges on residential development vary substantially by municipality. This signals differences in processes and approaches across centres and presents an opportunity to identify best practices.
  • At the upper end, government charges can represent more than 20% of the cost of building a home in major Canadian cities. Charges were found to be highest in the City of Vancouver and the City of Toronto and lowest in the City of Montréal.
  • A larger number of government charges was associated with a longer development approval timeline. The primary implication of a longer timeline is the slower provision of new housing supply to market and the people needing it.
  • Once a subdivision agreement is registered, the single-detached home tends to be the housing type subject to the lowest government fees. This seems to run contrary to densification efforts being pursued by municipalities, which are necessary to increase housing supply within existing urban areas.

Explore all the findings in this Housing Market Insight.

Download the report (PDF)

Was this page relevant to your needs?

Thank you for your feedback!

How Can We Help?

Suggest an Improvement

Report a Bug

How Can We Help?

Suggest an Improvement

Please share your suggestion.

Google Captcha Loader

How Can We Help?

Report a Bug

Please describe the problem.

Google Captcha Loader

Thank you. Your feedback has been submitted.

Discover related content using the tags below:

  • Affordable Housing
  • New Construction
  • Housing Supply
  • Research
Date Published: July 5, 2022

By Topic

  • Professionals
    • Project funding and mortgage financing
    • Housing markets data and research
    • Industry innovation and leadership
    • Events and speakers
  • Consumers
    • Home buying
    • Owning a home
    • Renting a home

About Us

  • CMHC's Story
  • Management and Governance
  • Our Partners
  • Corporate Reporting
  • Contact Us
  • Careers

More

  • CMHC Newsletters
  • CMHC Library
  • Housing Observer
  • Media Newsroom
  • CMHC and Accessible Housing
  • CMHC on Twitter
  • CMHC on LinkedIn
  • CMHC on Facebook
  • CMHC on Instagram
  • CMHC on YouTube
Privacy Policy    |    Terms and Conditions    |    Transparency    |    Accessibility Plan    |    Accessibility Feedback     Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) ©2025 
Canada
loader icon