Impressions of Bonnie Crombie, PC Party, and Quality of Life Rank High Among Mississauga Residents

Yesterday, the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) and the Mississauga Real Estate Board (MREB) were joined by Mississauga-based MPPs and Ministers for a discussion about the views of Mississauga residents, their thoughts on the political landscape, and the issue of housing affordability and real estate in the region.

Held in Mississauga, the event featured MPP's Deepak Anand (Mississauga-Malton), Sheref Sabawy (Mississauga-Erin Mills), Rudy Cuzzetto (Mississauga-Lakeshore), and Natalia Kusendova-Bashta (Mississauga Centre) for a fireside chat panel. Minister of Public and Business Services Delivery Kaleed Rasheed and Associate Minister of Housing Nina Tangri focused their comments on the real estate landscape in Ontario, including the Trust in Real Estate Services Act (TRESA) and Bill 23.

The MREB Fireside Chat with local MPPs also presented a survey conducted by Abacus Data for OREA and MREB. The survey found that Mississauga residents view Bonnie Crombie favourably, with 48% having a positive impression of the mayor. Residents also rank the Ford Government highly, with 46% of survey respondents saying they would vote for the Progressive Conservative Party if a provincial election was held today.

The survey also found that residents have a very positive view of the city, with 69% saying the quality of life in the city is excellent or good, noting the quality of recreational services, schools, healthcare, and transit. Almost half of Mississauga residents also say the city is heading in the right direction, which is significantly more positive than their assessment of the direction of the province as a whole.

However, when it comes to housing affordability, Mississauga residents feel that more could be done by the Ontario government. Just over 6 in 10 think the provincial government should place a high or very high priority on making housing more affordable. 70% believe it has become more difficult to buy a residential property in the community they want to live in and 46% expect prices in their community to rise.

While residents generally have a positive view of the direction of the city, housing affordability continues to be the big issue that they want solved and they do not want a cooling-off period on resale homes,” said MREB President Mike Kennelly. “Mississauga residents are looking to their elected officials to be their voice at the municipal and provincial levels, and to work on getting more homes built faster so we can bring affordability closer within reach to current and future residents.

The survey also looked at the thoughts of Mississauga residents when it comes to real estate industry issues, specifically the real estate auction loophole and cooling-off periods, as was recently enacted in British Columbia and would allow homebuyers to rescind their purchase agreement within a specific time frame.

76% of Mississauga residents would support the Ontario government closing the auction loophole that currently exempts auctioneers from having to follow the province’s real estate rules.

Ontario REALTORS^® have been sounding the alarm on the auctioneers exemption for some time now and it’s clear that Mississauga residents feel that they should play by the same rules as everyone else, said OREA CEO Tim Hudak. Ontario’s families deserve to have full confidence in the home buying and selling process, which includes trusting that the professional by your side has the highest professional standards, training, and modern tools.

The cooling-off period on resale homes was very unpopular with Mississauga homeowners. Only 21% of residents would support the measure if they were selling their home.

A cooling-off period can entice speculators to flood the market with bids on resale homes, pitting regular young families against large corporate developers with their team of lawyers. It can also hurt families selling their home, with the uncertainty of the cooling-off period causing them to wait to see if the buyer cancels and possibly relist.

Buying a home is the biggest financial decision of your life whether it’s newly built or a resale. All homebuyers deserve robust consumer protection, said Hudak. A cooling-off period for resale homes would be bad for both buyers and sellers.

OREA and local real estate boards across the province like MREB continue to fight for current and future homeowners in Ontario, advocating for bold action and championing pro-housing policies to get more homes built to help hard working Ontarians find an affordable place to call home.