Skyrocketing housing prices in Kingston, Ont. mean additional challenges for first-time homebuyers hoping to break into the market.
“We’re definitely in desperate need of some sort of change,” says Kingston resident Brandon Crausen.
Crausen joined Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath and newly-minted provincial NDP candidate Mary Rita Holland to discuss the challenges that first-time homebuyers face on Thursday.
“At times it often makes you feel like it’s impossible to have the sort of same ambitions to build a family and to build a future here in Kingston that there once was,” Crausen says.
Kingston home prices have increased more than anywhere else in the country.
“The community of Kingston has had the highest increase in a single year in the cost of housing across our country, never mind our province,” says Horwath.
“House prices went up 44 per cent in 2021; that’s almost a 50-per cent increase. I mean, it’s pretty significant, and it really does illustrate what’s happening across our province and across our country. And we can do better by people.”
Crausen has lived in Kingston his entire life and is now house-hunting with his wife, Bethany. He’s not shocked to hear that Kingston prices are the highest.
“It’s sad how difficult it is now to find a reasonably-priced home here in Kingston,” he says. “If you can even find one at all that’s available.”
Crausen and his wife are currently renting their home, and living with three roommates to help save up money.
“To us, moving out of Kingston doesn’t really feel like an option,” he says. “We really, really want to stay here. So really it’s just a matter of being able to be in a place where that’s doable for us and, honestly, it means that until that can happen we’re probably just going to continue renting.”
The couple views purchasing a house as a step towards building a family and starting their future.
They plan to continue saving, and are hopeful that more options will become available.